Women in the Fastener Industry announced its 2018 awards will honor Mary Chambers, Suzanne Dukes and John Butler.

* Chambers is the 2018 Woman of the Year. She started with Standard Hardware – a master distributor for Allen Manufacturing– in 1972 and subsequently worked in fastener manufacturing and distribution and as a rep. In 2003 Chambers and Doug Rolston merged their rep agencies to form Assembly Products. She is retiring in September 2018. Chambers served four terms on the Southwestern Fastener Association board and was the 2001 SFA president.

“I like to think that in some small way my great adventure has helped women in our industry. I applaud all of the women that work in our industry and hope that they are indeed happy and will continue support women as more of us take advantage of the many opportunities that this industry affords us,” Chambers said.

  • Dukes, Hayes Bolt is the 2018 Women in Business award honoree. Dukes was the first employee of Hayes Bolt of San Diego in 1976 and acquired the distributorship in 1984.  She has been president of the Western Association of Fastener Distributors and Pacific-West Fastener Association.
  • Butler, Olander Company, is the 2018 Man Up for WIFI for supporting women in the fastener industry.

 

WIFI chair Rosa Hearn also announced two scholarship winners:

  • Nikki Sedwick will attend the International Fastener Expo as the Edith Cameron Scholarship winner.
  • Melody Keown of All American Threaded Products will attend the Fastener Training Institute fastener week  with the Ann Bisgyer Wolz Scholarship to become a Certified Fastener Specialist.

WIFI started in 2009 to provide mentoring, networking and education for women employed in the fastener industry. Web: FastenerWomen.com