Sice quits SAS and industry

Jeremy Sice is leaving Stocks Austin Sice, the group he co-founded ten years ago, to pursue a career outside the design industry.

Sice, who leaves at the end of May, has no immediate plans. But he says: “I have achieved all the ambitions I can in design.” He has worked in the industry for 15 years and says “if you’re not a designer, there’s less payback [in terms of satisfaction]”.

Co-directors Nick Austin and David Stocks, both designers, will continue to run the group. There is “no intention” of directly replacing Sice, described by Austin as a “front-line marketing man”.

All three directors say the parting is amicable. Sice says: “I’ve really enjoyed my ten years at SAS. I leave the business in great shape with the belief that Nick and David will achieve even more in the future.”

Austin and Stocks see the change as an opportunity “to sharpen up our focus to maximise the enormous potential that new technology has opened up for us”.

Set up in 1989 as a Michael Peters Group breakaway, SAS was known for annual reports and print. It is now equally involved in identity, brand-positioning and multimedia and ranked 64th in Design Week’s Top 100 consultancy survey, with design fees of 2.2m (DW 26 March).