Bristol Myers Squibb’s ongoing 244,000-square-foot expansion in Devens promises to define the former military reserve and further draw the state’s blossoming life sciences industry into Central Mass. In total, BMS’s campus sprawls 89 acres, with its cell therapy manufacturing addition slated to open in 2023.
Overseeing it all is Odile Smith, who most recently led biologics manufacturing for the vaccines division of French firm Sanofi Pasteur. Smith’s direction of the Devens site will not only dictate the success of life sciences in Central Mass., but it will shape the Devens community, as BMS is already an employer of 1,100 people locally. The impact of BMS, a global company with $46 billion in annual revenue, on the region’s workforce continues to multiply.
In 2021, the firm has partnered with Middlesex Community College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute to develop training and education programs. It provided a grant to MassBioEd, a Cambridge- organization which focuses on building workforce talent, to launch the new Life Sciences Apprenticeship Program.
What sets the Central Mass. business community apart from the rest of the world? The life sciences industry is thriving in Massachusetts, and that makes this state and the Central Massachusetts region good locations for growing and expanding Bristol Myers Squibb biopharmaceutical operations here.
Championship pedigree: Smith raises and shows Briards, a French breed of large herding dogs. Her dogs have been champions over the years, winning Best of Show in the World Dog Show in Paris, Best of Breed honors at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, and have claimed top prizes at other international and national competitions.
