Skip to main content
Monica Enand, the Portland founder and CEO of Zapproved—an e-document service that helps companies sort through big data—accepted the Sam Blackman Award for Civic Engagement at an inaugural awards ceremony at TechfestNW this afternoon.
The award honors Sam Blackman, the founder of Elemental Technologies and Portland philanthropist who died suddenly of cardiac arrest at age 41 last August.
Sam's brother, Eli, presented the award—which is meant to honor company leaders who invest in efforts to better the community of Portland—to a teary-eye Enand this afternoon.
Enand, along with running Zapproved, is a board chair for Girls Inc. and has served on committees for Business for Better Portland and the Oregon Growth Board.
"I don't think I can express how deeply honored I am to receive this award," Enand said.
"Sam was a passionate guy," she added, "he was passionate about tech, social justice, the environment, kids and definitely about Portland. His grace and strength is something we can all take a lesson from."
To other community leaders, Enand also had a message: "Take Sam's cues and show that our generation wants to be engaged and have a positive and permanent role in making Portland a great place for every member of the community to live."
TechFestNW, sponsored by WW, continues this week at Portland State University.
