In February 2023, Maurice Kevenaar talked to Jonah May about a new idea. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Veeam User Groups struggled to regain in-person momentum. At the same time, Maurice wanted to give people a taste of his experience as a Veeam Vanguard. As a member of the program, he was given the opportunity to directly interface with members of Veeam’s Product Management and Product Strategy teams, as well as other Veeam Community experts from around the globe. What better way to bring people in tech together and grant them some of the same opportunities than a hackathon? Thus, the Veeam Community Hackathon was born. Now, the event runs annually, planned and executed by a team of organizers and Executive Sponsors from Veeam.
Founders
Jonah May
Co-Founder & Automation Desk Leader
Jonah is a Product Architect and Product Engineering Manager at CyberFortress, a platinum Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP). He is also a co-founder of the Veeam Community Hackathon, a Veeam Certified Architect, a VCSP Technical Ambassador, a co-host of the Rebel Devs podcast, and a leader of the Texas and Automation Desk Veeam User Groups. Prior to working at CyberFortress, Jonah worked at another VCSP, Global Data Vault. In his spare time, Jonah is a Scout leader, having earned his Eagle Scout as a youth.
Maurice Kevenaar
Co-Founder & Automation Desk Leader
Maurice Kevenaar is a System Engineer at INFO located in Amsterdam, NL, Package maintainer and moderator for the Chocolatey Community Repository (CCR), and contributor to OSS projects. Creator of Veeam Chocolatey packages and BoxStarter scripts. Veeam Vanguard 2020-2024, Veeam Legend 2023-2024, Leader of the Automation Desk and Veeam Usergroup Netherlands and Co-founder of the Veeam Community Hackathon.
Organizers
Jos Maliepaard
Organizer – Sponsorships and SWAG Procurement
Jos Maliepaard is a consultant, located in the Netherlands, with a strong focus on Data protection, disaster recovery and virtualization. He likes projects from the presales\designing phase till the handover to the customer. Next to the VMCE\VMCA certifications, he is a Veeam Vanguard and Veeam User Group Netherlands leader.
Tom May
Organizer – Leadership Development
Thomas May is an experienced IT professional who has held key positions in several companies, including Global Data Vault and Baker Botts. He designed Baker Botts’ disaster recovery plan and played a critical role in growing Global Data Vault as a Veaam Cloud and Service Provider during his second stint as CIO. Today, Thomas is the founder and CEO of Different Dev, a company that provides business continuity and disaster recovery solutions. He is also a Veeam Vanguard, recognized for his exceptional expertise in Veeam products and solutions.
Executive Sponsors
Madalina Cristil
Community Manager & Technical Analyst, Veeam Software
Madalina Cristil is a Technical Analyst and Community Coordinator on the Product Strategy team for Veeam Software based in Bucharest, Romania. Madalina is leading the Veeam User Groups community program, alongside with NFR program.
Safiya Mohamed
Community Analyst, Veeam Software
Safiya Mohamed is a Community Analyst on the Product Strategy team based in Columbus, Ohio. Her responsibilities include managing the Community Resource Hub, Veeam User Groups, and Legends program.