Employee Spotlight • Meet: Bryan

For Texas-born Bryan, a strong sense of service (and the perk of no student loan debt!) took him to West Point where, upon graduation, he was immediately placed in a leadership position with the Army.

“I went from being a college student to being a leader of people – there was no gap. I was put in charge of people at a young age. I can look back now and appreciate the benefit of being able to grow as a leader so early in my career.”

After service that included 15 months as a Platoon Leader in Iraq, and later as an Operations Officer and Test Officer, Bryan decided he wanted to take the lead on his next career move. That’s when he found himself drawn to the pharmaceutical industry.

Bryan accepted a role as a Cell Culture Supervisor with Takeda’s Massachusetts Biologics Operations facility (MA Bio Ops) and took the leap to relocate to the greater Boston area.

“This area proved to have a lot of unanticipated benefits! I love that I can get to the city while still being close to the mountains and hiking. I’ve learned to snowboard, and although I first learned to scuba dive in the lakes of Oklahoma, I’ve discovered some amazing cold-water scuba diving locations up here.”

As his career progressed at Takeda, Bryan found himself working through various groups within manufacturing, leading teams in finding new ways to simplify and streamline processes.

“I expressed a desire and a willingness to try new things, and that was supported by my manager and the leadership team. This gave me a wide breadth of knowledge within a short time.”

Bryan’s most recent career move has placed him in a Product Operations Leader (POL) role – working as part of a global team to align the strategies of the Commercial and Manufacturing teams, ensuring everyone has what they need to get life-changing products to patients as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“One of the things I enjoy here, is you never really know what’s going to happen – and you are the person expected to figure things out. In this role, it’s the first time I’m working so closely with our pipeline and to be so close to a product becoming something that will help our patients…it’s really exciting.”

The new job isn’t the only thing new at Bryan’s house: he and his wife recently welcomed a son, Bryan Jr. But like so much else in 2021, baby Bryan’s arrival did not go according to plan. A premature delivery meant a lot more time in the hospital – and away from work. Thankfully, everything with the new family is back on track and everyone is healthy.

“The company and the whole management team were great during that time. I had just finished transitioning into my new role only to have to transition work back to my manager and team. The team was exceptional in providing coverage and support.”

An affinity towards a service mindset goes beyond Bryan’s role at Takeda as he also volunteers as a firefighter for his small New Hampshire town. With much of his work having transitioned to a virtual work setting due to the company’s response to COVID-19, he’s found he’s been able to be an even more active volunteer for his community.

“The leadership team is so understanding. They value the need to help others. In this environment, I can quickly run out to assist someone who has been in a car accident and then come back to my work. Takeda has been extremely encouraging.”