The Fixer

When there is something wrong in a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant or a company that makes medical devices, there’s an expert who companies around the world turn to, and she just happens to be a graduate of Francis Marion University.

“I’m kind of like the fixer,” said FMU alum Charnisse Kelly. “When they call upon consultants, I’m one of the people that comes to help them.”

Kelly identifies the problem(s) and suggests solutions.

“I help rebuild their quality so they can regain their confidence,” she said. “And I help the FDA regain confidence in that particular company.”

The North Charleston native received a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in sociology and collateral in chemistry from FMU in 1996. Kelly received a Master of Science in Quality Assurance from California State University in 2013. She owns and operates CL&D Pharma Consulting, LLC. She also created her own endowed scholarship and has been an active member of the FMU Alumni Advisory Board since 2018.

Each year, the FMU Alumni Association presents deserving graduates with Distinguished Alumni Awards. Kelly received the Professional Industry Award in Medical and Health Sciences in 2022.

Kelly was seventeen when she arrived at FMU. She didn’t know anyone on campus, but she quickly made lasting friendships. After graduation, many of her biology classmates went to work for the central hub at Labcorp in Burlington, North Carolina – and that was something Kelly considered – but she ended up back in the Charleston area where she worked in customer service for Hill-Rom, a hospital bed manufacturer.

She spent nine years with the American Red Cross, first transporting blood to hospitals. She then transferred to the American Red Cross’s National Testing Lab in Charlotte. “That’s where my career started,” she said. She started as a lab technician and eventually worked in quality assurance. Then it was on to Atlanta to work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a contractor through Lockheed Martin.

Kelly started her one-person company five years ago and traveled extensively before the pandemic. Now she does most of her work remotely and really enjoys it. “I enjoy implementing corrective actions to prevent certain things from happening again. I write investigations, and part of that is coming up with robust corrective actions that will prevent certain things from happening again,” Kelly said. “You feel like, oh, I did something. I achieved something, so I like that. That’s great.”

Kelly created the endowed scholarship in 2019. “I wanted to give back,” she said. “I was at a point where I had the opportunity to financially give back, so FMU is where I started, and it helped with my career and was just a natural place to give.”

Kelly treasures the Distinguished Alumni Award that she received in March 2022. “That was extraordinary,” she said. “I was shocked. It was unexpected, because it just goes to show that you never know who’s watching you, and they feel that you’re worthy.”