Energy boost: LaRossa thrilled when Canadian company noted it’s staying in N.J. because of reliability

As the longtime chairman of Choose New Jersey, Public Service Enterprise Group Chair and CEO Ralph LaRossa has sat through more speeches on economic development than he can count.

He’s just never been the surprising center of attention.

That changed Monday afternoon in Toronto at an event that detailed why RxSource decided to stay in New Jersey. Aziz Hirji, the company’s chief financial officer, said the decision was due in part to the reliability of energy service — something vital to their business.

“There wasn’t a better moment for me in any role that I’ve had with this company than sitting there listening to somebody stand up in front of the governor and compliment the reliability that’s provided by all of our workforce every day,” LaRossa said.

“Not enough people pay attention to the importance of reliability. To hear that it was a game-changer for a company to stay in New Jersey was incredible. I was just filled with pride.”

RxSource is a pharmaceutical company that purchases, stores and distributes pharmaceutical products to support clinical trial customers, hospitals, pharmacies and other health care industries.

Based in Toronto, it entered the U.S. market in 2018, renting a small warehouse in Secaucus. When it had outgrown the warehouse — and realized there was nothing available in Secaucus — the company decided to expand its search nationwide, concentrating on California, Texas, Massachusetts and North Carolina.

Hirji said energy issues in California and Texas marked those locations off the list because they are prone to natural disasters.

“We store medicinal products, and they’re all temperature controlled,” he said. “Our reliance on the power grid is very high. And, when we did our research, we found those regions (had) some areas that were without power for days or even weeks.

“That is a big risk for us, so they we’re out.”

When Massachusetts and North Carolina came up short for other reasons, Hirji said RxSource took another look at New Jersey.

“After six months, disappointed, we all regrouped, and we finally had this ‘ah-ha’ moment,” he said. “We said: ‘Wait a minute. We’ve been operating out of Secaucus for seven years, it met all our needs — and has been a great experience so far.’”

The company eventually signed a lease to take 48,000 square feet in West Deptford — a place where energy reliability should not be an issue.

It’s a big win for the state — but, perhaps, a bigger win for the acknowledgement of the energy sector.

LaRossa said he’s personally spreading the word.

“We actually do make a difference, and it was nice to have that acknowledged,” he said. “As soon as I said it, I sent a note back to my team — to our head of operations, to our union leaders — and said, ‘What we’re doing makes a difference.’”

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