Laurie Braxton cultivated a 20-year career with pharmaceutical giant GSK, serving in roles encompassing external supply, business development, supply chain integration, and site management. The catalyst?
A cool pair of pants.
“The recruiter was wearing leather pants, and I was like, “North Carolina … pharmaceuticals … It looks like they have a pretty cool team. Yeah, I’m in,” Laurie recalls.
At that time Laurie was a recent graduate of Bowling Green State University with a degree in business.
“If I would have stayed in Ohio, I probably would have gone into automotive, but pharmaceutical was really interesting to me,” she says.
FUJIFILM Biotechnologies leaders plant a tree on Earth Day as part of the first landscaping at the Holly Springs site. From left: Austin Rogers, Nathan Kilburn, Jordan Ulrich, Signe Michelsen, Laurie Braxton, Matt Kuntz, Amy Manning, George Kaliviotis, and Mahalia Corrales.
Laurie’s career took her to GSK facilities in RTP, Zebulon, Maryland, and the United Kingdom.
“I have been really fortunate in my career to have had so many different opportunities. I think one of the reasons that’s true is because I was always looking for where there’s opportunity in adversity,” she says.
“At one point in my career I led external manufacturing, so I was the customer; I was the one that would go out and look at CDMOs to say: Who could we work with; who would be a good partner?
“That’s what I was doing when I lived in the UK. (GSK) had a global network. I had teams in 40 different countries. It was amazing.
“I never thought I would go work for a CDMO, but I really enjoyed my time managing that space and thinking about how (CDMOs) could be more strategic and an advantage for pharmaceutical companies,” she says.
Plot twist: Laurie does end up working for a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), but there’s one more step before we get there.
Laurie and her family moved back to North Carolina from the UK in early 2020 so she could assume the role of site head at GSK’s facility in Zebulon — a supplier of respiratory medicines, like those used to treat asthma.
“I was coming in at a time when people were terrified about leaving their houses. I was new to leading there, new to a lot of those people, but trying to convince them that I could keep them safe,” she says. “I learned so much about leadership and building relationships and trust, and that what comes before everything is people. That experience is what really defined and solidified my leadership style.”
Here comes the plot twist.
In 2021 FUJIFILM Biotechnologies announced a $2 billion investment in Holly Springs to build the company’s largest CDMO in North America.
“I had obviously seen (the announcement) in the newspapers, and it was this huge investment,” says Laurie. “But why would I leave GSK? I have a great career; I’ve been here forever.”
A Fujifilm recruiter — probably also in very cool pants — and company leadership approached Laurie with a value-centric proposition.
Progress at Fujifilm Holly Springs as of August. The site is expected to open this fall.
“(Fujifilm) leadership truly believes that if you put the right people in the right jobs, if you take care of them in the right way and you let them flourish, we’ll be unstoppable. … We hire for not only experience and capability, but we hire for values and beliefs,” she says.
“This is through and through my beliefs and how I value people and leadership,” Laurie continues. “I joined a year ago, and I have never been happier in my entire career.”
“This is my home. I have two girls that watch me every single day. If I can have a lasting impact here on the community and be part of our future growth … why wouldn’t I do that?”
As FUJIFILM Biotechnologies head of North Carolina operations, Laurie oversees the company’s two Triangle-area facilities: an established 20-year product development site in RTP and a brand-new cell culture manufacturing site in Holly Springs. The first phase of the Holly Springs site will open later this year, with a second phase to follow in 2028.
“We’re making life-changing medicine. My job is to make sure that we’re doing it to the highest level of quality and standards, and that we’re doing it in the time frames we committed to doing it and delivering. … To do that, we’ve got to take care of the facility; we’ve got to take care of the people.”
Laurie likens her job to being mayor of a small community. She’s constantly interacting with team members and ensuring smooth operations throughout all areas of the organization, which employs more than a thousand people locally.
The Braxton family, including Laurie, husband John, and daughters Elin and Sophia (pictured below) enjoys attending concerts and listening to live music together.
“The thing that is awesome about manufacturing is you have such a diverse number of backgrounds,” Laurie says, ticking off everything from warehouse and shipping management, to microbiologists, to engineers, to accounting and human resources.
“There are a crazy amount of talented people from all over who are so excited to be here,” she says.
“What I’m so impressed with about Laurie is you look at her calendar and she’s making time for people at all levels of the organization. She might have a 9 o’clock coffee chat with someone working on the shop floor, and by 9:30 she has an executive call with a client partner,” says Sarah Millsaps, a management consultant who works alongside Laurie to help implement her vision for Fujifilm Holly Springs.
“Laurie sets incredibly high standards for herself, for her people, but she matches that with just as much support.”
“People trust us to make sure that the products that they’re making are reliable and safe and do good. And so I’m spending a lot of time making sure that we have the right culture in place, we have the right protocols and the right oversight,” Laurie says.
“She’s very data driven, but also has a really strong instinct or gut. Laurie’s sense of people is rarely wrong,” says Sarah. “She figures out a way to be a strategic decision maker using both.”
Surrounding yourself with a supportive tribe is paramount, Laurie says, in the office and at home.
“I am so fortunate that I have a husband that has been in my corner from day one,” she says. “It allowed me to put my career ahead of his … so I could go after everything I wanted to do.”
Outside of Fujifilm, you’ll find Laurie spending time with her family — husband John and daughters Sophia, 16, and Elin, 14 — at Lake Gaston, reading voraciously, or — like many parents of teenagers — driving her daughters and their friends around town.
“My favorite thing is being in the car with them, playing whatever music they want to listen to, but then just hearing the stories and conversation.”
“One of the things I really love about this job is that FUJIFILM Biotechnologies’ growth in this area also allows me to be part of the ecosystem in Wake County.”
Daughters Elin and Sophia
“I think about my own family and what I want for my girls. Gosh, I don’t want them to move away. I want them to want to be here, and I want them to be able to afford to be,” Laurie says.
“Across my two sites, we’re very active on things like infrastructure discussions. What’s it going to take to be able to make product — not just this year and next year, but 5 years, 10 years down the line? Where do we need to partner with the Town of Holly Springs?
“Holly Springs is now at four large pharma (companies) that have announced in this area. We have to not compete with each other for resources, but we have to think about how we create (infrastructure) together, because we’re all a pull on the town. That’s been fascinating and fun to get to be a part of.”
Participation in economic development discussions with Wake County and town officials has unlocked a new passion, Laurie says.
“Fujiflim gives me a really amazing platform to get to be part of — not just building and running two of the facilities in our network, but being part of what FUJIFILM Biotechnologies’ place is in North Carolina.”
Another passion: mentoring and advocating for other women in their careers.
“There’s so much value in having an advocate and having someone that you can talk to, work through things, and see things from a different perspective,” says Laurie. “I wish I would have started those conversations with women earlier on. I think that’s where I get the most pride out of what I’ve done. Yes, there’s the day-to-day stuff, but it’s actually the people that I’ve been able to help with their career and seeing where they’re going.”
The ability to embrace adversity and ask for help when needed has kept Laurie engaged and challenged her entire career.
“There’s always a little bit more I could do, or there’s something I could improve and do better next time,” she says.
Showing that vulnerability to her team makes Laurie an even more inspiring leader.
“I know that I probably am not adding as much value anymore the day that I don’t think I have to improve or to get better. I don’t know everything, and I’m not perfect. Nobody needs to be, and that’s okay.”
Laurie Braxton is one of Cary Magazine’s 2025 Women of Western Wake. Visit carymagazine.com to read more about this year’s outstanding honorees.
Readers of Main & Broad are invited to attend the Women of Western Wake Forum on September 26 — a day of inspiration and celebration recognizing distinguished women in the local community. Learn more at womenofwesternwake.com
