Prophet is doubling down on marketing and decision sciences talent as it accelerates its transition from start-up to scale-up, appointing Lia Carruthers and Becky McMillan to newly created roles.
The decision intelligence platform confirmed Carruthers will join as Marketing Executive, while McMillan steps in as Customer Architect, with both hires positioned to support the company’s next phase of growth.
The appointments land as Prophet looks to formalise its marketing function and strengthen its customer onboarding capabilities, amid rising demand for its platform.
Building the engine for growth
Carruthers will work across brand, content, events and go-to-market strategy, with a remit to evolve Prophet’s marketing into what the company describes as a more “structured, scalable engine for growth.”
McMillan, meanwhile, will focus on onboarding and data processes, helping clients build “digital clones” of their organisations – a core part of Prophet’s proposition.
Prophet CEO Jordan Taylor-Bartels said the appointments come at a pivotal moment for the business, as it shifts from early-stage growth into a more structured scale-up phase.
“Prophet is entering an exciting growth phase, as we transition from start-up to scale-up,” he said, pointing to a broader expansion across brand, marketing and customer engagement as demand for the platform accelerates.
Against that backdrop, Taylor-Bartels positioned the hires as both strategic and necessary. As the company grows, he said, there is a dual focus: building stronger marketing foundations while also rethinking how B2B brands show up in the market.
Carruthers, he noted, will play a key role in that evolution – bringing “a fresh perspective and new energy” to Prophet’s marketing approach, with a remit to help shape a brand and marketing engine that can stand out as the business scales.
McMillan’s appointment, meanwhile, is closely tied to customer growth. With new clients coming on board, Taylor-Bartels said the business needed to deepen its customer architect capability to support onboarding and data integration at scale.
He described her as bringing a rare combination of media data expertise, customer focus and agency experience – positioning her to help clients navigate increasingly complex data environments and extract greater value from Prophet’s platform.
Looking ahead, Taylor-Bartels said the company will continue to invest in brand and thought leadership, with a pipeline of partnerships, events and research initiatives in development.
“We are continuing to invest heavily in brand and thought leadership as we scale,” he said, adding that the long-term goal is to build a “distinctive brand in the marketing science and decision intelligence space” as Prophet expands into new markets.
A mix of brand, data and media pedigree
Carruthers joins with a background spanning FMCG brands and digital marketing, most recently working on brand strategy at Farrah’s. She was named New Zealand’s Marketer of the Future at the 2024 YouTube New Zealand Marketing Awards.
McMillan brings more than a decade of experience across media and marketing, most recently at RMIT University, and previously at Atomic 212°, Publicis and Zenith.
Speaking on her appointment, Carruthers said: “As Prophet continues to grow, the marketing function is evolving from early-stage brand building into a more structured, scalable engine for growth. I’m excited for the opportunity to work across a range of marketing activities, helping to bring new ideas and fresh thinking to how Prophet shows up in the market.”
McMillan added: “I’m thrilled to be joining Prophet’s Decision Science team. For me, this role is the perfect blend of media, marketing and data; it’s an opportunity to bring together my unique understanding of media data, strong customer focus and passion for stakeholder engagement. I’m looking forward to helping Australia’s biggest brands make sense of their data and own every marketing decision.”
The hires follow a string of recent appointments across Prophet’s sales, tech and marketing science teams, as the business expands its footprint across sectors including retail, insurance, automotive and media.
Founded by Jordan Taylor-Bartels and Sean Taylor, Prophet has positioned itself as a decision intelligence platform that uses real-time data and modelling to help brands test and optimise marketing decisions before they’re made.
Main image: Lia Carruthers and Becky McMillan.