West Virginia Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons

Organization Bio

The West Virginia Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons is the voice of ophthalmology in West Virginia. The WVAEPS provides advocacy, education, and community to its members. 

Company Story

When Administrative Director Kim Ebert joined the WVAEPS, she inherited an outdated website. “It was just very uninteresting, kind of ancient, vintage,” she explained. She and Jamie Summers-Brown of Bricks Without Straw immediately began the process of “updating and making a more interesting, user-friendly website.” It was a very interactive process, with Ebert presenting ideas to Jamie, who then responded with recommendations.

Ebert described Jamie’s willingness to listen as fantastic.  “(I say), ‘I want to do this and this and this’. . . .and he listens and listens,” emphasized Ebert. “And somehow he takes my ideas that I bombard him with. . .and makes my ideas come to life!” 

Ebert also recognized and trusted Jamie’s experience. “I took a lot of his suggestions because he has the knowledge of what works on a website. . .what makes (people) stay for an extended length of time. (Now) when people land on our website they tend to stay a little longer than what they did, which is what we wanted.”

Never Sleeps

She also discussed Summers-Brown’s quick response time. “There are times when I have emailed him at 10:30 or 11:00 p.m., and he will respond. He always gives me some feedback, no matter what time of day or night I email him. Sometimes when I shoot him an email at 11:30 at night, it’s because I can’t sleep and I’m thinking about it. And evidently he doesn’t sleep either,” she said with a laugh.   

Sharing another example, Ebert recalled how quickly Jamie had the group’s PAC website in place. Members wanted to easily donate and wanted the ability to set up recurring donations. When Ebert presented the need to Jamie, he had the basic site up and functional within hours of her request. “He just does it. I don’t know how he does it,” she acknowledged.

One of Ebert’s disappointments with the former WVAEPS site was that it wasn’t pleasing to the eye. In her opinion, Jamie succeeded in changing all that, stating that her favorite part of the new site is the visual effect. She added, “Which is all Jamie. Just being able to look at it and it’s not cluttered and it’s just visually pleasing.” She is also pleased with the layout and look of the mobile site (a version that Jamie encouraged the WVAEPS to add). “It’s very compact and very easy to navigate through,” Ebert said. 

Meeting Member Needs

The updated desktop version is also easy to navigate, and includes a members-only area where sensitive information is limited to member access. Members now have the ability to register for events online, a feature missing from the old site that members absolutely wanted. “They definitely like it,” Ebert responded, when asked about member reaction to the new site.   

As she summed up her experience working with Jamie, Ebert noted his ability to listen, his creativity, and his efficiency. “He’s just a great guy to work with. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with him,” she concluded.

Bricks Without Straw is a digital agency and design agency based in South Charleston, WV United States and Ota, Tokyo, Japan.

We offer a range of web design services including: web development, e-commerce services and email marketing. We also offer a range of graphic design services including logo design and exhibition stands.

We love working with clients of all sizes in a range of industry sectors, creating and implementing inspiring and hard working concepts and campaigns for business-business and business-consumer clients.

Valicia Leary

Bricks Without Straw has continued to exceed our expectations with their design work, support and attention to detail. We would highly recommend their services. They have a wonderful team and we enjoy our working relationship with them.

Carol Fulks

Bricks Without Straw has continued to exceed our expectations with their design work, support and attention to detail. We would highly recommend their services. They have a wonderful team and we enjoy our working relationship with them.

Patti Hamliton

Bricks Without Straw is bringing our association into the 21st Century! He brings us ideas and innovation for our web site and other tools of technology that help us enhance our image and our message.

Rebecca McPhail

Bricks Without Straw has continued to exceed our expectations with their design work, support and attention to detail. We would highly recommend their services. They have a wonderful team and we enjoy our working relationship with them.

Bill Raney

Jamie is one of the most committed and energetic professionals we have ever worked with over the years. He seems to work all the time with full 24-7 accessibility and immediate response. Bricks Without Straw has raised our collective confidence for maximizing opportunities in today’s world. We simply could not have done it without them.

Jan Vineyard

The demands and responsibilities to our members mandate that the online presence of our associations and our internet capabilities are reliable and seamless. Add creativity to that mix and one gets the complete package with Jamie Summers-Brown and his staff at Bricks without Straw.