SicolaMartin GM Resigns Post

General manager Ed Conlin has resigned from SicolaMartin in Austin, Texas, to pursue freelance consulting opportunities, he said last week.
Conlin, a 27-year advertising veteran who was a former senior vice president at Dallas’ Tracy-Locke Advertising (now DDB Needham), said he plans to do freelance work in marketing communications and executive search endeavors for both local and national companies.
He did not rule out possibly joining another agency in the future. Conlin said, however, that he wants to focus on client services work and intends to remain in Austin.
“This is not like Dallas, where you might have 10 or 12 other shops to go to,” Conlin said. “I’m doing what I love to do . . . work with clients.”
Agency partners Tom Sicola and Steve Martin could not be reached for comment on their plans for the general manager position. Conlin said he believed the post has been eliminated, with his duties split between Sicola and Martin.
Conlin was at SicolaMartin for two years, joining in May 1996 as director of client services. He relocated from Boise, Idaho, where he was general manager of Floathe Johnson Associates, a technology-oriented marketing firm that handled business from Hewlett-Packard and Micron Electronics.
In November of that year, SicolaMartin shifted Conlin to the newly created general manager’s position to head day-to-day operations and continue his client services role. He was also charged with promoting the $55 million agency as a national high-tech player, similar to Euro RSCG Dahlin Smith White in Salt Lake City.
While the majority of SicolaMartin’s creative work remains regional in scope, the shop’s advertising assignment for Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Citrix has garnered more widespread attention in the past year. The agency is currently running a $3 million print trade campaign for that computer company [Marketing Computers, May 1998].