Celebrating 100 years in 2015, the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association is the oldest trade association in the state. WVONGA is proud to advocate for the many trades and services involved in the oil and natural gas industry.
According to Kevin Ellis, Board Member and Immediate Past President, WVONGA was in a crunch to get a new website up and running. At the time, Ellis was board chair and president of WVONGA. As the group vetted web vendors, an IT consultant suggested Jamie. Ellis checked out Jamie’s references from other trade associations. “They were all very, very positive. Definitely good recommendations and feedback from everyone I spoke with.” Association member Lisa Barnard agreed, “Everyone applauded him, so we went with him. And we’re not sorry.”
Ellis said it was critical that Jamie produce a secure, reliable site. “And to do a kind of a superficial makeover in terms of the look and feel but mainly to secure the mechanics under the hood.” Barnard added, “We wanted someone to just manage it, take it.”
“He exceeded my expectations,” Ellis said, acknowledging that Jamie is a good listener. “He followed through on all the concerns and issues we raised. It was clear to me that Jamie was paying attention to the details-what we were trying to get at-and he implemented those points in the work that he was doing.”
Barnard, who serves on several committees for WVONGA and was Ellis’ assistant during the site build, detailed the time frame for the project. “We asked for 30 days to have something semi-functional, and 90 days to have it complete.”
Jamie did not disappoint. “Jamie had to literally build this from nothing. And he had a shell. . .a landing page. . .within a matter of days,” Barnard shared.
“Jamie has a great reputation among trade associations for his quick response time and thoroughness,” Executive Director Anne Blankenship offered. “In the short time I have worked with Jamie, I have found these accolades to be true. He has worked hard for WVONGA at a critical time of transition for the association.”
”It appeared that Jamie was working night and day to get that website up and running,” Bryan Brown, communications consultant to WVONGA, added. “I’ve worked with Jamie for more than a decade now, and if he says he’s going to get something done, he gets it done. And always exceeds expectations. So I was thrilled that WVONGA hired Jamie to develop the new website because I knew that they would receive a top quality product.”
IT and Business Sense Combined
The non-functioning website meant the WVONGA was losing money, heightening the need for a quick fix. “We have a vendor who provides services to us by soliciting banner advertisements on the website. . .and our link was broken,” Ellis explained. “Jamie understood that we were losing revenue. He understood that he had to do something very quickly to integrate the vendor’s ability to communicate with our website. He got right on it.”
“He seemed to understand our business and what we were trying to accomplish, in terms of how his role impacted our business,” Ellis continued. “Because we were not only trying to get our website up and running and make it secure, we were also trying to prepare for one of our annual meetings which is a big revenue generator. We rely heavily on the internet to contact people. So he was clearly part of the team to make sure that we didn’t lose a step in terms of our business functionality.”
“Jamie [understood] our desire to use the website and the tools that are available to us through that platform to communicate to the public and to stakeholders. So he understood what we were trying to accomplish in terms of messaging.”
Barnard added, “Jamie had a good overall knowledge [of the industry]. . .if you just took someone and asked if Jamie knew the big picture, he knew the big picture. You would never expect someone in web design to know the tiny details, but at some points he would even know that. [And] if he didn’t know, he would ask.”
Dedicated to His Clients’ Success
When Jamie began the project for WVONGA, he was actually in another country. But according to Ellis, this didn’t affect his response time. “He may have been. . .across the globe, [but] we never had any concern about him responding to a question or an issue. He was very timely.” However, recognizing the urgency, Jamie made a personal decision to cut short his trip. It was a move that didn’t surprise Bryan Brown. “Jamie is extremely dedicated to his clients. I see that in my work with him and in my role in having worked with him and other clients.”
Brown continued, “When you ask Jamie to do something, he’s had it done about two minutes before you ask him. He just gets it done. And he gets it done in a quality fashion. Finding that level of engagement and responsiveness in the service community--it’s extremely rare. . .”
Blankenship added, “Jamie thinks outside of the box and is clearly passionate about what he does.“
Ellis concluded, “He’s very professional. It was clearly the winning choice for our association to partner with Bricks Without Straw.”
