Casting the spotlight back on the Digital Transformation & AI Awards 2025, Mike Yan, CEO and co-founder of Manychat, contributed to the judging panel at the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire on 19 June 2025, bringing over a decade of experience in AI innovation, messaging technologies, and conversational marketing to the evaluation of Ireland's most ambitious digital transformation initiatives.

Yan co-founded Manychat and built it into the world's leading conversational marketing platform, empowering over one million businesses globally and facilitating billions of customer interactions across Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Telegram.

Under his leadership, Manychat achieved recognition as the number one platform for Instagram messaging automation, a position built on the strategic integration of enterprise AI, automation, and digital strategy into marketing practice at a scale that few platforms have matched.

His development of strategic partnerships with companies including Meta, and his sustained focus on advancing AI integration in digital communication, established him as one of the more consequential figures in the evolution of how brands connect with their audiences in a digital-first environment.

That background in AI-driven business transformation and emerging technologies gave his panel contribution a perspective particularly relevant to a programme that in 2025 spanned over 40 categories across digital transformation and artificial intelligence.

From Overall Best Digital Transformation and AI Innovation of the Year to sector-specific categories in healthcare, financial services, retail, public sector, and life sciences, alongside awards for responsible AI and best use of AI across multiple industries, the programme demanded evaluators with a genuine command of where digital innovation was heading rather than where it had been.

Yan was joined on the panel by Judging Coordinator Maria Svejdar of GS1 Ireland, alongside Noel Carroll of the University of Galway, Warren Kavanagh of Aweb Digital, Brendan Keegan of Maynooth University, Cliona McParland of Dublin City University Business School, Denis O'Brien of GS1 Ireland, Peter Robbins of Dublin City University, Pierangelo Rosati of the University of Galway, Peter Rose of TEKenable, Antonio Vieira Santos of Atos, and Declan Sheehan of the National Transport Authority.

Visit the Digital Transformation & AI Awards website to view the 2025 winners and explore the full programme and subscribe to the newsletter for more information.