Focus on National Apprenticeship Day: NC Life Sciences Apprenticeship Consortium – sustaining a successful program

By Chris Capot | This article originally appeared via NCBiotech's blog

The North Carolina Life Sciences Apprenticeship Consortium (NCLSAC) was founded in 2022 as part of the Accelerate NC Life Sciences Manufacturing coalition, funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC). The coalition, led by NCBiotech, promotes life sciences training and job opportunities to distressed communities across North Carolina.

The 12 current employer partners include Amgen, Biogen, CSL Seqirus, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, KBI Biopharma, Körber Pharma Software, Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Novonesis, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer.

The NCLSAC has leveraged BBBRC grant funds to award more than 254  BioWork scholarships at 9 community colleges statewide, enabling valuable pre-apprenticeship training. To date, seven of the NCLSAC member companies have hired 38 apprentices. 

Amgen welcomed its first cohort of 12 apprentices, the largest thus far for the NCLSAC, with a celebration at Wake Tech in January 2025. “At Amgen North Carolina, we see the apprenticeship program we developed in partnership with Wake Tech Community College, as a powerful investment in the future," said Trish Lovering, head of Human Resources at Amgen North Carolina. "By providing hands-on industry experience and mentorship, we’re helping local talent launch meaningful careers while strengthening the talent pipeline that will drive innovation and growth for years to come."

On May 8, 2025, NCBiotech will host the third Accelerate NC Career Celebration to bring together family, friends, peers, teachers, and employers to recognize 135 new employees, including 17 apprentices, as they begin their life sciences careers. The event will feature a video from Governor Josh Stein congratulating employees on their success, keynotes from Curtis Bright, a manufacturing associate at CSL Seqirus, and Alicia Alford, a BULLS Life Sciences Academy graduate and Biogen manufacturing apprentice.

When asked about her favorite part of her apprenticeship, Alicia spoke about the value of “getting hands-on training and seeing the skills I learned in the BioWork program being used in real time.” 

NCBiotech recently convened an informal discussion with (NCSLAC) leaders to talk about the unique collaboration fostered by the NCLSAC and where it’s headed. We present this discussion today because it's National Apprenticeship Day.

The NCLSAC leaders included Deborah (Deb) Hittel, senior manager of maintenance, CSL Seqirus and chair of NCLSAC; Eugene (Gene) Lofton, manager of training development, KBI Biopharma, and vice chair of NCLSAC; Gina Thompson, senior service partner manager, Körber Pharma Software and treasurer of NCLSAC; and Tony McKnight, regional apprenticeship consultant, North Carolina Community Colleges. Hee-Sook Song, the former workforce development director for NCBiotech, was a part of the conversation before she recently retired.

Hee-Sook Song, NCBiotech: I truly believe this North Carolina Life Sciences Apprenticeship Consortium is a great solution, and the highest priority is for it to be sustainable to support our community. When I envision the next hundred years - of course, nobody is going to be around – but this will be bigger and bigger, and these are the folks that will make it happen. 

Tony McKnight, NC Community Colleges: I concur with Hee-Sook. We’ve been trying to figure out how to make this sustainable because we have the leadership here, and we've got these committed companies. We want to move the needle and keep it going.

Gene Lofton, KBI Biopharma: We're not competing against each other. We're working together, we're sharing talent. And if I'm not mistaken, when you think about this consortium, we're the only (life sciences) one in the state, and we're the only one in the United States.

Deb Hittel, CSL Seqirus: And that's also being consistent with how the talent is brought through the apprenticeship program. Say if somebody graduates from a program with CSL, they can move on to a similar position at KBI or any other pharmaceutical company. 

Tony: It's not a competition, right? It's a collaboration with everyone helping. I may not be able to help Gene and KBI, but I may be able to help (someone else), just sharing those networks.

Gene: Building that pipeline. It's so critical, because again, thinking of all the companies coming into the area, we all need talent. As companies continue to come to North Carolina, where are they going to pull that talent from? And if someone does leave our organization, how do we backfill that with talent that we've already groomed and gotten ready to take those spots that are no longer filled? And so again, you can't go out there and get somebody to run upstream or downstream. You've got to take them through that experience and that training. 

Deb: This is a hub for a lot of pharma companies. There are so many life sciences companies in this area. I think we all recognize that it's not sustainable for our businesses to steal talent from one another. We must figure out how to share.

Tony: We have done apprenticeship consortiums elsewhere, and I've been a part of probably about three or four of those throughout the state, but they were all geared towards advanced manufacturing, right? This is the first geared specifically towards life sciences manufacturing.   

Gina Thompson, Körber Pharma Software: We're focused on manufacturing and operations, but I want the students and the population to know there's also a career path into project management and IT, training and consulting, and sales. Back in the day, you had to get a four-year degree. And for me, my family said that not only do I have to get a four-year degree, but I need to get a master's degree. And then once I got that, they wanted me to get my Ph.D., right? And here, I don't know if families understand what support comes with something like the NCLSAC, that they can go to Wake Tech for a certificate, for instance. They can continue to get an associate degree, have tuition reimbursement, and state funding. There's so much available. Some of the parents, too, are interested in getting into the program along with the students. I think it's also seasoned, mature individuals who are looking to tap into that 840 (life sciences companies in the state). 

Gene: Every one of the companies has its registered apprenticeship program as a part of the Consortium, and they can use it as a recruiting tool for young individuals who have no experience, or they can also use it for their incoming workforce. 

Deb: We had to get everybody to agree to volunteer to be on at least one of the committees. That's part of the Consortium. That way, everybody has shared ownership. Also, we do have Consortium fees, and most of those fees go to reimbursing the BioWork scholarships because that's how you get everybody introduced into the pharma world.

Tony: Also, they all agreed that they would not steal or poach employees from each other, so they would work together. For instance, if Gene couldn't use someone at KBI, then Deb may be able to use them at CSL Seqirus.

Gina: We are being collaborative. It's that authenticity that I'm not going to get hurt if I join this. 

Deb: We set up our program (at CSL) so that after six months of training, if there was an opening that became available, the apprentice would be eligible. They would continue their apprenticeship, and they wouldn't finish their apprenticeship until they had the full year, but they had the opportunity to bid on those positions. Because the problem is that once they hit that one-year mark, there may or may not be available positions. Obviously, we would like to keep them. But if we can't, we can offer them up to other companies that have open positions and say this is a very well-trained individual.

Tony: And another thing that makes this so phenomenal is that all of the employer partners looked at the Work Process Schedules (WPS) and decided, “Hey, we're going to make them streamlined so that every different company doesn't have to go through the process themselves,” so it's been a collaboration on that, as well. I've been with apprenticeships for 18 years and seen the spectrum. I can see this is something here in North Carolina that other states are already looking to us for guidance. We were on a call the other day with the community colleges about BioWork classes. They're through the roof in enrollment. And they even get Mr. Gene Lofton teaching at the local community college! 

Gene: It's a joy. And it’s not necessarily just young people. I have mothers looking to get into the workforce because they just had their babies and they're trying to build their careers. I have parents who are trying to transition. Somebody's working at Duke and they're transitioning to get into the industry. One lady's son went through the program, and he got his mom into the program. I just finished teaching her. It's how you continue to build this pool of individuals who want to get into this industry. What can you do in 10 weeks to change your life and make a substantial change? And the great thing about this is that it creates opportunities for individuals who may not otherwise have even thought about going into life sciences. 

Tony: It’s about changing the mindset of the parents, not so much the kids. When you mention manufacturing, the parents say, “No, no, you're not going into a manufacturing position.” What the companies in this area started to do is when they invite the students out, and they made it a requirement that the parents come along on the tour as well. So that they see their kids are not going to be working in a filthy, grimy place that they’re imagining, that this is a place where you could eat off the floor. For the parents, it was like the light bulb went on - oh, this is a good thing.

Deb: I just talked to one of our employer partners, and they mentioned to me that they've got a facility in Texas that they may want to mirror the same thing that we're doing here. 

Gene: Another good thing about NCLSAC is that it is employer-driven. We're here for the employers. Whatever those employers need, we're here to provide that.      

The NCLSAC remains focused on providing collaborative life sciences training and career engagement opportunities that effectively bridge the gap between talent and careers across North Carolina, according to Liana Palaikis, Ph.D., workforce development director for NCBiotech. 

“As companies invest and expand across the state, the continued diversification of where our talent is coming from, along with providing relevant skills training, remains essential to continued success in sustaining a robust and vibrant North Carolina life sciences community,” Palaikis said. “We look forward to continuing to build and expand on this model to serve the needs of this dynamic industry.”

If your company would like to join the Consortium, please review the NCLSAC page and contact NCBiotech.