Women in the Fastener Industry added a third scholarship to provide online fastener training for women.

The Joanne Goodman Sherman Scholarship will give the winner formal fastener education online leading to certificates, WIFI chair Rosa Hearn announced. WIFI partnered with THORS eLearning Solutions to offer the online education in 2019.

“WIFI understood not all fastener women have the ability to travel to attend the Fastener Training Institute for our Ann Bisgyer Wolz Scholarship,” Hearn explained. “We knew we needed to add more opportunities for the women in the industry to be able to receive a formal education in fasteners.”

WIFI names its scholarships in honor of women who pioneered in the industry. Sherman was the co-owner, secretary and treasurer of New Jersey-based Industrial Rivet & Fastener Company. The family-held global company has been in business 105 years.

Sherman’s niece and WIFI board member Taryn Goodman said the company wanted to set up a scholarship and chose WIFI as their platform.

Sherman started working for the company founded by her great-grandfather in 1912. She initially worked part-time while in high school and joined the company full time in 1974. She started in bookkeeping handling accounts receivables and payables and worked with her father and brother in sales and managing client accounts.

In 1975, Sherman acquired Elkay Orthopedic Supply Company, a specialized fastener business, while continuing to work in Industrial Rivet. She sold Elkay in 1981.

In the late 1980s she became co-owner of Industrial Rivet with her brother, Bill Goodman. Together they grew the primarily domestic company into a global distributor, manufacturer and importer with 11 U.S. distribution centers, 10 international locations and 50 employees.

Sherman handled administrative and operational areas of Industrial Rivet, overseeing accounting, human resources, marketing and customer service. She was responsible for the company’s multiple brands and copyrights, working with patent lawyers for propriety products and services, including the RivetKing brand. Sherman was responsible for putting Industrial Rivet online in the early days of the Internet to support the brands plus to streamline the customer experience.

Sherman was named 2010/2011 NAPW Professional Woman of the Year.

She died in 2016 at the age of 61.

Thors eLearning Solutions was founded to increase manufacturing knowledge with interactive eLearning courses the Thors Learning Management System and virtual seminars. Web: Thors.com

WIFI was founded in 2009 to provide opportunities for women at all levels of experience through uniting, educating, mentoring and encouraging one another. Web: FastenerWomen.com