Bully Pulpit International hires Lee Carter to lead message intelligence, predictive communications

Originally published on PRWeek

Bully Pulpit International (BPI) has hired Lee Carter as a partner to lead the development of its message intelligence and predictive communications capabilities.

The move, effective this week, brings together Carter's expertise in language, behavioral science, persuasion and corporate reputation with BPI's existing team and capabilities across data, research, audience intelligence and technology, the independent agency said in a statement.

Based in New York, Lee will report directly to CEO Andrew Bleeker in this title.

"The stakes have never been higher for communicators who have been living in a world that's so fractured and polarized," Carter said of the reasoning behind her decision to join BPI. "There's so much animosity out there and so the idea that we can help people who have a good story to tell is really exciting to me."

In her new role, Carter will build capabilities spanning four connected areas: predictive message and audience intelligence; brand, reputation and narrative strategy; marketing and persuasion effectiveness; and risk, issues and crisis foresight.

The work is designed for chief communications officers, chief marketing officers, CEOs and other senior leaders and will span industries, including complex and highly regulated sectors such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, according to the firm.

"So much of what we have to do in the communications world is about reacting to different things that are happening around us. Even when we put messages out there, we can be caught flat-footed because we don't always understand how things might be interpreted and get out there," Carter said. "What I'm trying to build is something that helps us stop reacting all the time and start anticipating so that we can change the way that we communicate for the modern world."

Earlier this year, Carter founded Carter Intelligence Group after more than 20 years at Maslansky + Partners to advance what she coined as "predictive communications." Carter explained that she founded the agency because she believes the future of communications, given all the change that has happened across the industry, requires a different kind of firm.

Bleeker shared that vision, she said, and provided an opportunity to build upon her work within the infrastructure BPI already has in place. At BPI, Carter will expand upon the work she started in April with Carter Intelligence Group, but will not continue under the eponymous agency brand.

"The methodologies, the approaches, the technology, everything that I was building, I'm going to be building within BPI now," she said. "To understand how messages are going to travel, you have to understand how it goes through the system; how it travels through AI, how social media and media might interpret it and then how people themselves might interpret it."

"What we're going to be bringing together is that idea of human insight, traditional research and then AI-powered interpretation, testing and real-time intelligence, so that leaders can make better decisions," she added, emphasizing that she'll be able to do that work better with the capabilities has to offer BPI.

Rather than treating marketing, reputation and stakeholder communications as separate problems, the message intelligence and predictive communications capabilities will apply a shared understanding of audiences across them by anticipating how customers, employees, investors, policymakers and other audiences may interpret, respond to and share messages, developing and pressure-testing corporate and brand stories and evaluating campaign ideas, creative concepts, claims and messages before a launch, the firm said in a statement.

Carter will be working alongside Katie Cronen who served as president and cofounder of Carter Intelligence Group. Cronen joined BPI on October 12 and is leading work across BPI to translate audience intelligence into sharper framing, strategic messaging and executive positioning for clients, an agency spokesperson confirmed.

Prior to founding Carter Intelligence Group with Carter, Cronen spent more than 15 years at Maslansky + Partners, most recently as a partner.

The two leaders will partner with team members across product and innovation, insights and client services as part of their new roles at BPI, Carter said.

During her tenure at Maslansky + Partners, Carter advised clients across industries, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, while serving as president and partner.

In addition to authoring Persuasion: Convincing Others When Facts Don't Seem to Matter,

Carter is also a frequent Fox News commentator on voter sentiment, political messaging and cultural trends and has appeared on CNN and NewsNation.

Carter joins a series of new hires for BPI this year. The agency brought on Weber Shandwick alum David Whiting as a partner based in Boston in August and Daniel Watson as a managing director in Washington, DC.

Bully Pulpit International reported a 6% revenue increase to $97.3 million globally and flat growth at $79.1 million in the U.S. in 2025, according toPRWeek's Agency Business Report 2026. The agency, formerly known as Bully Pulpit Interactive, rebranded to Bully Pulpit International following its acquisition ofEuropean consultancy Boldt in 2023.