Sam Blackman, CEO of AWS Elemental, dies at 41

A cardiac arrest suddenly ends the life of one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in the broadcast and media industry.

Sam Blackman, CEO of AWS Elemental, died last weekend due to cardiac arrest. At 41 years old, he was considered one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in the broadcast and media industry.

A native of Portland, he transformed Oregon's Silicon Forest by founding Elemental Technologies in 2006 with Brian Lewis and Jesse Rosenzweig. The pioneering company in Internet video encoding and transmission was acquired in 2015 by the giant Amazon for $296 million, giving rise to the birth of AWS Elemental (integrated into the Amazon Web Services division).

"AWS Elemental has lost a passionate, visionary and humble leader and the world has lost an inspiring human being dedicated to society. Sam's spirit will always be at the center of what we do. Sam loved his job, but his greatest love was his wife and children. Our thoughts are with his family and everyone who accompanied him on his journey," the company said in a statement.

Blackman just opened a new AWS Elemental office in Portland last week and was planning several business trips in the coming weeks, including his presence at IBC.