Creative agency Argonaut has had a vacancy in the president role for a while, yet it has built up an impressive body of work since it opened in 2013 in San Francisco, working with clients including Fitbit, Cricket Wireless, Honey Bunches of Oats and Nerdwallet.
Now, the agency feels it’s right to have someone again in place as president, and it chose one of its founding members in Katie Miller.
Miller has played numerous roles at the agency over the last decade, grounded in business development, strategy and brand management. She has played an integral part in Argonaut landing Código 1530 Tequila, Jefferson’s Bourbon, and California Olive Ranch recently, and has been instrumental in the business growth of longtime client Cricket Wireless.
Miller began her career in media strategy at Starcom before going on the account side at Leo Burnett and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.
While Miller has essentially been operating as the president, the title was made official because of the momentum she created for the agency, Hunter Hindman, Argonaut CEO and CCO told ADWEEK. That momentum includes a 138% increase in new business revenue in the past year.
“Part of her new position will be helping us achieve our five-year plan, which includes doubling our size and targeting international expansion. Establishing ourselves as a sizable agency is key to opening up the creative opportunities we’re all hungry for,” said Hindman.
Hindman said that since the agency is now bicoastal with offices in San Francisco and New York, and another in Los Angeles, it was time for Argonaut to modernize and put a leader in place who could ensure collaboration, creativity and continued growth, which will let the leaders of the respective offices, including the newly anointed head of creative in New York, Hemant Jain, concentrate on their markets and clients.
Argonaut’s leadership team: Hunter Hindman, Katie Miller, Hemant Jain.
“We’re at an inflection point as an agency, winning new clients and growing organically. Katie’s been instrumental in all of it. Having been a fixture at Argonaut since we opened in 2013, Katie continues to shape who we are today and who we dream about becoming tomorrow. Whether redefining our core values and what we stand for or teeing us up for success, no detail is too small for Katie and there’s no challenge too large,” said Hindman.
Miller said that, having steered the agency through so many of its chapters, leaves her in a unique position of understanding Argonaut’s strengths and areas it still wants to develop.
“Hiring great talent and empowering them to deliver is what is going to help us grow and expand. So, I really see my job as getting the most out of the wildly creative and talented people we have. My goal is to make sure the path is laid for each of them to be their best, while removing any obstacles along the way,” Miller told ADWEEK.
A large part of Miller’s focus will be placed on how Argonaut collaborates both internally and with its partner agencies on client projects. She said the agency also wants to expand the value it can provide collaborating with its sister agencies within Project Worldwide, an independent network of marketing services agencies that also includes Partners + Napier, Praytell and Wondersauce.
“We are uniquely set up as a network built for hyperconnected creativity and we’ve only scratched the surface of how competitive we will be with the big, global holding companies,” said Miller.
Hindman said that he plans for growth of the agency and that Jain has been a leader of its creative charge.
“The way he thinks about brands and creativity makes our creative department a new business magnet. And due to his oversight, we’re undoubtedly going to add more rockstars across disciplines to our operations,” said Hindman.
Hindman added that the agency has also sharpened its strategy offering under the leadership of head of strategy Magali Charmot, who joined in 2023 and brought in new talent to help fuel growth.