2023 Sam Blackman Award Honoree Announced

Portland, Ore. – June 21, 2023 – The Technology Association of Oregon (TAO) announced today the selection of Jake Weatherly, Chief Executive Officer of SheerID, the pioneer and global leader in identity verification for commerce, as Oregon’s 2023 Sam Blackman Executive of the Year Award Recipient. Weatherly will be recognized as part of the Oregon Technology Awards - Individual Award ceremony, an annual program celebrating the excellence and achievement of individuals in the region’s technology industry, on September 26, 2023, at The Benson Hotel.

Recipients of individual awards will be recognized at an exclusive dinner in September 2023 in front of an audience of colleagues, friends, family, and other executives. This additional ceremony recognizing individual achievement in September is a change for TAO. This change enables us to provide greater visibility and recognition to both the particular award recipients and the finalists and winners of the company awards.

Weatherly, the 2023 Sam Blackman Executive of the Year, has served as Chief Executive Officer of SheerID since founding the company in Eugene in 2011. He has advanced the Portland-headquartered company to its current position as the global leader in identity verification for commerce – a new form of personalization that he pioneered – to help brands connect with consumer communities including students, teachers, military service members, and first responders. Global retail brands like Amazon, Nike, Spotify, and AT&T work with SheerID to identify, verify, acquire, and develop loyal customer relationships from hundreds of valuable consumer groups while also making products and services more accessible to the people who make communities around the globe better places to live and work.

Weatherly, who was educated at KGS Stuhr-Brinkum in Germany, Middlebury College, and the University of Oregon, continues to grow the SheerID business through channel expansion, strategic partnerships, and ongoing product development.

Under his leadership, SheerID has developed software that can verify more than 2.5 billion people globally via 20,000+ authoritative data sources. The company does so without ever sharing or selling customer data, which is why it is also playing a central role in helping businesses transition away from surreptitiously tracking consumers with third-party cookies.

The personal information that consumers transparently volunteer to brands to prove their eligibility for community-based offers - known as “zero-party” data - is becoming increasingly valuable as brands - and consumers - seek privacy-friendly alternatives to personalization based on third-party cookies and purchased or rented data without individuals’ consent. In May of 2023, SheerID ranked among the highest-scoring businesses on Inc. Magazine’s Annual List of Best Workplaces. Earlier in the year, the company was listed in Inc Magazine’s National Inc 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies, as well as its regional pacific version.

SheerID was named to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 Ranking for the fastest-growing companies in North America in 2021 for the third consecutive year and was ranked among Oregon's Most Admired Technology Companies of 2021 by the Portland Business Journal. In 2021, SheerID opened a new office in London and expanded into 17 additional markets in EMEA. Currently the company has about 200 employees, with the vast majority of them residing in Oregon. “I’m proud of the fact that SheerID helps people who make our communities a better place - like teachers, healthcare professionals, and veterans - get easier access to products, services, and experiences from global brands,” said Weatherly. “Not only do we enable brands to give back to tens of millions of individuals who are the backbone in all of our communities, but we also do so as a company. Receiving this year’s Sam Blackman Award reminds me that continuing his legacy and passion for the natural beauty of Oregon, technology entrepreneurship, social justice, and our children is a responsibility for all of us to foster and grow. ”

“The Sam Blackman Award recognizes executives of Oregon and Southwest Washington-based technology companies for excellence in industry leadership, as well as an individual’s positive impact in the greater community,” said Skip Newberry, TAO President, and CEO. “Since the early days of SheerID, Jake Weatherly's leadership has been characterized by investors and employees as remarkably consistent, genuine, humble, and inspiring. He has worked to position the company as a national leader in identity marketing, and while doing so, has remained committed to a number of local community causes, both in Eugene, OR and statewide."  Sam Blackman founded Elemental Technologies in 2006 with Brian Lewis and Jesse Rosenzweig. Blackman led the company from a tiny start-up to one of Portland’s major employers before selling to Amazon in 2015. He stayed on as CEO of AWS Elemental and was awarded the Technology Association of Oregon's Technology Executive of the Year in 2015. Blackman passed away suddenly in 2017 at age 41, and the Technology Executive of the Year Award was renamed in his honor.

The 2023 Individual Oregon Technology Awards is presented by Cushman & Wakefield and United Healthcare. This year marks its 39th year of bringing together entrepreneurs and tech professionals from across the region and around the globe. For more information about the 2023 Individual Oregon Technology Awards Ceremony on September 26, at the Benson Hotel, please click contact Ashley Kmiecik, Director of Events & Sponsorships.

‍About the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO): TAO is a local nonprofit working to build opportunities, better our economy, and unify a voice for innovation in Oregon and beyond. A recognized leader in shaping and growing technology and business communities, TAO empowers businesses and entrepreneurs through networks, events, advocacy, resources, and more. With over 500 member companies, TAO’s network brings together some of the largest companies in the world, small startups, and tech-enabled companies that are using technology to drive growth and innovation.

For more information, please visit www.techoregon.org.

‍For Press Inquiries: Kaitlin Beauregard PR  & Communications Coordinator kaitlin.beauregard@techoregon.org

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