Jason Van Leeuwen has held many roles at Datto before becoming the Productions Supervisor. He joined the company in 2012 as an intern in the sales department. He transitioned to the marketing department in 2013 working on inbound marketing. He then started working on Datto’s internal company videos, which eventually evolved to his current role in the operations department in 2015.
In Jason’s time with Datto, he has seen the company make tremendous strides, so it’s no surprise he has been an integral in starting the productions team from the ground and bringing it to what it is today.
Jason compares his time with Datto to a rollercoaster. He started when the company had fewer than 100 employees all the way to early 2017 with over 700 employees and offices all around the world.
“It’s been a lot of fun to see Datto grow and see my role change over the years. It’s been great to see the company develop into the ecosystem it is now, and watch people around the company come together and grow,” said Jason.
It should come as no surprise that Jason’s favorite part about working here is the people. “Regardless of how hectic or busy it may be, everyone is welcoming and truly cares about each other and Datto as a company. I don’t think there are many other places where employees have the same passion as they do here. It makes getting up in the morning and coming to work a lot easier,” said Jason.
Although Jason’s hard work over the years has never gone unnoticed, he was front and center at the recent town hall. Jason was honored as the latest winner of the DattoByte award.The DattoByte award identifies employees who have gone above and beyond and made an impact on the company. Each winner is celebrated during Datto’s internal Town Hall and is given a certificate with their Lego likeness, a plaque, and a ticket to the next DattoCon conference.
Considering Jason is an integral part of the Town Hall presentation, it wasn’t easy to keep it a secret from him. Typically, the Town Hall presentation is sent to Jason before the event for preparation work, but that wouldn’t be an option this time because he would have found out the news too early. Jason became suspicious that he may have won the award when the presentation was kept from him. Luckily, his supervisor, Ryan Massiello, threw him off the scent a few days before the Town Hall by making him think he was runner up.
After getting over the shock (and possibly a being a little annoyed at Ryan for lying to him), Jason said he was ecstatic to win the DattoByte award. “The recognition means a ton to me, and to have Austin publicly honor me in front of the company was incredible. Even though I had a little feeling I may win, I was still shocked. My role is a lot of background work, so I wasn’t expecting it to happen,” Jason said.
“This wouldn’t have happened without everyone else on the operations team. It takes our entire team to pull off events or anything production related. I’m really thankful that they are always there no matter what, and they are really what drive me to want to be successful,” Jason added.