Liberty Online Develops Houston Chapter Web Site

MOUNDS VIEW, Minn., & HOUSTON—Liberty Online, one of the credit union movement's leading Web hosting and design providers, has partnered with the Houston, Texas, chapter of credit unions to design an informative and educational Web site for chapter members. "We're excited to have worked with the Houston chapter on this project," said Bill Wagner, Liberty Online marketing director. "It's quite a privilege to a part of something that will help this extensive chapter quickly and conveniently communicate to all its member credit unions via the Web. " The Houston chapter site is the communications vehicle for the 150 members of the Houston chapter, said Randall Dixon, president of Energy Capital Credit Union and the chapter director overseeing the Web site.

"Liberty Online has shown good performance on this job," he said, explaining that site administration will be handled by a Houston-based team using Liberty Online's 24x7 Toolbox, which allows certain text changes to be made on-site by the credit union's Web administrator. Houstonchapter.org has a team of administrators, each of whom is responsible for content in a specific area of the site. "We believe this [24x7 Toolbox] will make it easy for us to administer," Dixon said.

Liberty Online began working Houston chapter officials began working on the site's design and development about two months ago before it was launched. The chapter approached Liberty Online with a specific set of requirements, Wagner said. "We wanted to be certain that our Web solutions-which have proven to exceed the goals and objectives of our 190-plus credit union customers-could be adapted to meet the Houston chapter's specific needs as well," he explained.

Chapter members can access chapter meetings and events information, educational opportunities, links to regulatory authorities, cooperative advertisers, fundraising activities and recent newsletters, as well as the chance to provide feedback on the site or information it contains. Visitors also can electronically register for chapter meetings or other events from the site.

"This site is designed more as a credit union piece rather than a consumer piece. It is not a consumer site. So far, the response so far has been excellent," Dixon said. "I know of a few chapters that have Web sites, but none as extensive as this."

Wagner said, "The Internet has opened new doors and opportunities for organizations of all types every day. Chapters such as the one in Houston, which are active in promoting the credit union movement, will constantly find new ways of harnessing this technology, and we're happy to be of assistance."

Liberty Online is part of the growing Liberty family of credit union-focused companies. Recognized as the credit union movement's leading provider of payment systems and marketing services, Liberty serves nearly 5,000 credit unions in all 50 states, Guam and Puerto Rico.