The Institute Of Food Technologist's Website Sets The Gold Standard For Web Development

Online, February 16, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The Institute of Food Technologists and Velir announced today that IFT has received a Gold Association TRENDS 2010 All-Media Contest Award, for its website, IFT.org. The website was developed by Velir, a full service Web development agency, and was built on Sitecore, a leading provider of Content Management Software.

The All-Media Contest is an annual competition held exclusively for associations that recognizes the most creative and effective communication vehicles developed in the industry during the prior year. The 2010 competition included more than 470 entries in 27 categories. The award was presented at the Salute to Association Excellence Event on February 16, in Washington, D.C.

The Institute of Food Technologists is an organization which strives to provide a community for food science and technology professionals and the knowledge and tools they need to enhance their professional capacity and competency. IFT connects communities of food technologists from around the world by creating a dynamic forum where members can share with each other, learn, and grow.

"Velir was very responsive and clearly understood our needs, which in return helps us better serve our members through our website," said Marc Bernstein, VP of Information at The Institute of Food Technologists. "IFT is impressed by the effort put forth by Velir on behalf of the Institute. Velir holds a clear understanding of Sitecore's technology capabilities."

Sitecore CMS was selected because of its ability to seamlessly integrate with third party applications, and because Sitecore makes it easy for non-technical contributors to continually publish content to the website. The new site enables staff to delegate content responsibilities, while ensuring a consistent look and feel that strengthens the brand. Velir implemented the CMS and performed a complicated series of integrations including the Personify Association Management System and SusQTech's Member to Member community software.

"The site is easy to use and organized in a way that makes it simple to find what you are looking for," says Dave Valliere, Chief Operations Officer at Velir. "It is more relevant to its members and makes IFT better equipped to advance its mission."

About The Institute of Food Technologists
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is a nonprofit scientific society. Our individual members are professionals engaged in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government. IFT's mission is to advance the science of food, and our long-range vision is to ensure a safe and abundant food supply, contributing to healthier people everywhere.

For more than 70 years, the IFT has been unlocking the potential of the food science community by creating a dynamic global forum where members from more than 100 countries can share, learn, and grow. We champion the use of sound science across the food value chain through the exchange of knowledge, by providing education, and by furthering the advancement of the profession. IFT has offices in Chicago, Illinois and Washington, D.C.

About Velir
Founded in 2000, Velir is a full-service web agency that delivers high-quality, complex web solutions to membership associations, non-profit organizations, and private companies. Our award-winning company is one of the largest Sitecore partners in North America and we are certified Google Enterprise Professionals. Our expertise in content management, data visualization, software development, programming, engineering, and elegant user interface design enable us to create sophisticated Web-based systems that take the pain out of managing content and bring data to life by making it dynamic and compelling.

About Sitecore
Sitecore redefines how organizations engage with their customers online, powering experiences that can sense and adapt to a customer's needs to increase revenue and customer lifetime value and satisfaction. Sitecore was the first Web Content Management system (WCM) to incorporate marketing automation, intranet portal, e-commerce, Web optimization, social media and campaign management technologies into a cohesive, integrated open platform. Sitecore's software makes it easy for businesses to identify, serve, engage and convert new customers online.