ProofID has created its first Chief AI Officer role as the Manchester-headquartered identity security specialist steps up its ambitions to become an AI-native business while expanding its offering across international markets.
The appointment of Neil Evans marks the creation of a new executive position at the company, which delivers identity security advisory, implementation and managed services to enterprise and mid-market organisations across EMEA and the Americas from its Manchester headquarters and a second base in Colorado Springs, US.
Rather than focusing solely on AI technology, the new role has been designed to lead a wider business transformation, spanning commercial strategy, technical development and organisational change.
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Evans brings more than three decades of technology leadership experience across software engineering, product innovation and executive roles. Most recently he served as Cloud & Mobile Engineering Leader at Music Tribe’s Midas Division, having previously spent five years as CTO (EMEA) at UNICOM Global, where he led emerging technology strategy across natural language processing, AI, machine learning and blockchain.
A graduate of the University of Manchester, where he completed a Master of Engineering in Microelectronics Systems Engineering, Evans will be based in the company’s Manchester headquarters.
“This is a people-first transformation as much as a technical one,” said Tom Eggleston, CEO of ProofID.
“Technology is the enabler, but it’s the mindset, behaviours and capability of our people that will determine whether we succeed in becoming AI-native, while staying true to who we are — the identity security specialist our customers already trust. Neil has spent his career leading exactly that kind of change, and he’s the right person to drive it end-to-end.”
As part of ProofID’s senior leadership team, Evans will be responsible for embedding an AI-native mindset across the business, while developing new capabilities and services. The appointment also builds on the company’s existing Agentic AI Enablement advisory practice, which helps organisations secure autonomous AI agents using their existing identity investments.
“This is a rare opportunity to lead a transformation from the inside — not just advising clients on how to become AI-native, but building that capability into ProofID itself,” said Evans.
“It means a lot to take on this role at a company that’s headquartered here in Manchester. The technology is the easy part. The real work is bringing our people with us, so we can deliver AI-powered identity services at the level our customers expect.”
The move comes as businesses across the technology sector increasingly look beyond deploying AI tools towards reshaping operations and services around AI-native models, with ProofID positioning the newly created role at the centre of that strategic shift.
