What started in March of 2009 at the National Board meeting in Dallas, TX as “what is the realm of possibilities for our IT future”, has now become a reality. Janie Wilson was National President then and when she passed the President’s gavel to Mary Snitch it came with the charge to provide positive support for the concept and to see the project through to a successful outcome. We are now there!
Since July 2010 a laser-like focus has been on the very clear and urgent need for ARCS Foundation to have a much more highly-functional, user-friendly and dynamic web presence to advocate the ARCS mission to our members, key stakeholders – universities, scholars and donors – and the general public. The initial concept for a new website almost immediately grew to include a multi-faceted database and it’s this database which will change the way National and all our Chapters conduct their critical administrative work and record-keeping – adding/updating all contact information, event planning, NB and Chapter meeting notices, mass mailings, university and scholar profiles, and on and on. Most importantly National and Chapter Administrators will now have the ability to manage their data, as well as make updates to member-only and public pages news and information.
As the National Board discussed website and database requirements to best benefit National and our 17 Chapters, we heard from seven developers who were very interested in being selected as our vendor. Ultimately, West Monroe Partners in Chicago was selected and the National Board unanimously approved going forward with the project at the February 2011 NB in Phoenix. Contracts were signed and website development begin on March 1st – with the very fitting name “Project Mercury”.
Project Mercury is the largest initiative every undertaken by ARCS Foundation. Without question, this project would not be a reality without the passion and expertise of Lynda Birkelbach (Chicago) and Jenny Edstrom (Minnesota), who served as Project Managers during the proposal phase and then through development. Also, Nancy Spetzler (Phoenix) and Ronnie Martin (Atlanta) who read and edited every page from National and Chapter “authors” to ensure brand compliance. And then our outstanding vendor partners West Monroe and Promet who walked hand-in-hand with us every step of the way. Promet will now continue to provide hosting and Webmaster services.
Congratulations and a million thank-yous to the entire Project Mercury Team. You did it and we have arrived!!
Mary L. Snitch
Past National President
Project Mercury Executive Sponsor