N.J. Economic Development Authority CEO Evan Weiss has an interesting take on the national versus international attraction game. When it comes to where New Jersey should focus its efforts, he doesn’t see a clean divide between courting companies from Pennsylvania or Portugal.
In Weiss’s telling, the real issue isn’t where a company is headquartered. It’s how that company makes its investment decisions — and whether New Jersey understands those calculations well enough to compete.
That’s the goal of the new administration, Weiss said.
“Gov. Sherrill is so focused on what is the actual experience for the business or the employee when they interact with us,” Weiss said.
That focus, he argues, forces policymakers to work backward from reality instead of building incentive programs around headlines or political positioning.
For years, the state’s highest-profile economic development wins have come with high-profile moments.
Weiss is fine with landing those deals. But he’s just as interested in the quieter, more constant flow of decisions being made by companies already operating in New Jersey — or by firms looking at a short list of U.S. states and global locations and deciding where to place their next investment.
Weiss, speaking recently in a wide-ranging discussion with BINJE, said the administration’s approach has a simple premise: You can’t design effective policy if you don’t understand why companies say, ‘No.’
That’s why he keeps pressing businesses and industry groups to move beyond general complaints.
“And it’s not just, ‘It’s hard to do business here, the taxes are too high,’” Weiss said. “I say, ‘No, tell me exactly why it’s hard to do business, and then we are going to work on that.’”
That same specificity applies whether the competition is next door or overseas, he said. A manufacturer comparing New Jersey to another Mid-Atlantic state is running a version of the same analysis as a multinational firm weighing the state against locations abroad. Labor costs, energy prices, real estate, logistics, regulatory predictability and access to talent all get modeled — and small differences can determine where capital flows.
Weiss wants EDA to be fluent in that math.
When he talks about understanding investment decisions, he’s not just talking about chasing new logos. He repeatedly hints at a stronger focus on incumbent companies — firms that have been in New Jersey for years and are now deciding where to expand, modernize or downsize.
Those decisions rarely make headlines, but they matter deeply for the state’s long-term economy. A biotech firm choosing where to add lab space. A warehouse operator deciding which port-adjacent market to grow in. A manufacturer debating whether its next production line belongs in South Jersey or somewhere else.
In each case, EDA’s role is less about a one-time incentive and more about keeping New Jersey competitive when companies run the numbers.
By emphasizing investment choices — and by talking openly about both incumbent support and global competition — Weiss said the success of the EDA during the Sherrill administration won’t just be measured by announcements.
It will be measured by capital expenditures, expansion decisions and the number of quiet “we decided to stay” calls that never make a headline but keep the state’s economy moving.
