Rosendin

By Andrea Hine

In accepting the Prineville Chamber of Commerce’s Large Business of the Year award on behalf of Rosendin Electric Inc., Regional Manager Robert John said that

“this is home for our people, and we are honored to be recognized for our commitment to the community.”

((L) Robert John, regional manager of Rosendin Electric, accepts the award for Large Business of the Year from Dr. Paul Slater, event master of ceremonies | Photo courtesy of Prineville Chamber of Commerce (R) Rosendin provided electrical and data services for a new four-story academic laboratory building at OSU’s Cascades campus | Rendering courtesy of SRG Partnership)

(As one of the largest employee-owned electrical contractors in the U.S. Rosendin was established in 1919, and is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. The company has more than 8,000 employees, 18 office locations nationwide, and $3 billion in annual revenues.)

“Since setting up operations in Prineville a decade ago, Rosendin been involved in multiple charitable projects,” said John. “These include lighting the 30-by-50-foot American flag that marks the entrance to town, sponsoring the summer Picnic in the Park events, and donating 11,000 pounds of food to the St. Vincent de Paul Society Crook County Food Pantry.” (Earlier examples of giving back to the community include rewiring the local rodeo arena, and installing new wiring for the high school drama department.)

John added that “we also volunteer to do yearly maintenance at the Prineville Senior Center, contribute to the Crook County School District with volunteers and donations, and build the themed tree each year for the St. Charles Foundation Hospice Christmas Auction — which is a big one for a lot of us whose families have benefitted from the hospice services.”

Although “we have only so much money each year to donate,” admitted John, “we’re trying to do so more and more as the company expands into Bend and Redmond, and have set up a foundation to centralize all charitable giving. Our focus, however, will always be Prineville and Crook County — where 90 percent of Rosendin’s work takes place — as we want to demonstrate how much it means to us to be here.”

(Rosendin Electric won the Prineville Chamber’s “Large Business of the Year” award for its “demonstrated excellence in providing products and services within the community and support of specific projects that have led to civic improvement and the overall development of the economy within the current year.” The two other finalists were Meta and Fortis Construction.)

Rosendin’s primary work in Prineville is with high-profile data center clients, starting with the first facility in 2011 that required 18 months of work. “Our two biggest markets are renewables and data centers — both new construction and sustaining (or maintenance) work,” said John. “We’re also involved in design and construction of wind energy plants, including grids and collection systems.”

In Deschutes County, Rosendin has completed a two-year project to upgrade the electrical infrastructure throughout a St. Charles Health System facility in Bend; and provided electrical and data services for the construction of Academic Building 2 at Oregon State University’s Cascades Campus. Future projects, he noted, include the next building for OSU, service work for the St. Charles Cancer Center — Redmond, and a job in the pharmaceutical field.