Written by: John Dylan Higham, 4th year Digital Business Management BComm student

Who is Sherry Fodor?

On November 12, 2025, Fourth-year Digital Business Management students taking “MGMT-4002: Product Management” got the opportunity to hear from Sherry Fodor, Marketing Manager for Entripy, a large custom apparel manufacturer based in Oakville, Ontario. Sherry was kind enough to come in and speak about her experience in product management, as well as in marketing, where she has extensive experience and expertise. Not only does Sherry have an impressive career in marketing, but also has formal education in the field, having studied at both Laurier University and York University.

Sherry has a plethora of household brands she has worked with, including: Arm & Hammer, Entripy, Trojan, Heinz, St. Ives, Rub A5-35, as well as companies within the cannabis industry. She has launched an astonishing 500+ products across 40+ brands in her professional career. Her expertise and insight provided such a valuable learning experience for the class.

Product Management vs. Marketing Management

Sherry has worked in both marketing management as well as product management, and did a wonderful job breaking down the differences between these two branches of management.

Marketing managers are more-so focused on strategy, branding, communication, and promotion. Their goal is to develop effective marketing plans that promote brand equity and health, while successfully promoting their product and/or service. Product management is more focused on the product/service itself. The roles of a project manager may include the
planning, development, commercialization, and life-cycle management of the product.

The Product Life Cycle

We have all seen the typical product life cycle at some point. This model contains four phases: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Sherry helped educate us on some of the other aspects of the product life cycle that we may not have been aware of before. A very interesting fact we learned was that 95% of newly-launched products fail within the first two years!

Conclusion

The Product Management students were extremely grateful to be able to hear from Sherry, and left the class with a greater understanding of what it means to be a product manager. Having the opportunity to hear from such an experienced and knowledgeable individual in the product management industry was an absolute pleasure, and we hope to see Sherry Fodor back at Humber soon! If there was one thing that Sherry said today that really resonated with that class, it was to “Uncover and communicate benefits in a way that makes a product or service so compelling that your target market just can’t live without it.”