Patrizia A. Zita

Trish built her career and The Zita Group on a simple idea: if you want to effectuate change, the only way to do it is from the inside. That belief has guided every step of her professional life.

Since co-founding The Zita Group in 2007, Trish has focused on helping organizations navigate government with strategy, integrity, and purpose. What began as a small partnership has grown into one of New Jersey’s top lobbying and strategic consulting firms—and the largest founded and led by a woman.

For more than two decades, Trish has worked at the intersection of policy, business, and strategy. Her goal is to help clients anticipate what’s ahead, communicate with credibility, and align their advocacy with long-term objectives. Whether working with Fortune 500 companies, healthcare systems, or nonprofits, she approaches every engagement with the same principle: listen first, understand deeply, and build bridges that last.

As a strategic consultant, Trish helps leaders see several moves ahead. She brings together political foresight, business intelligence, and clear communication so clients can position themselves effectively within New Jersey’s evolving policy landscape.

As a lobbyist, she advocates for clients in a way that builds trust rather than tension. During the 2012 marriage-equality campaign, Trish and her team worked with legislators to help shift perspectives and advance the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act—a turning point that paved the way for New Jersey’s recognition of same-sex marriage the following year. Experiences like that remind her why she does this work: policy, at its best, improves lives.

As a political and policy analyst, Trish contributes to statewide initiatives that shape New Jersey’s future. She served on Governor Phil Murphy’s Environment and Energy Transition Committee, providing policy guidance as his administration prepared to take office. That work reinforced her belief that practical, informed collaboration between government and industry can drive real progress.

Trish also devotes significant time to expanding women’s representation in public service. Through the Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics’ Bipartisan Coalition for Women’s Appointments, she helps identify and support women for leadership roles across state boards, commissions, and agencies. Seeing more women in decision-making spaces is one of the most meaningful measures of progress she knows.

Before founding The Zita Group, Trish worked within government —first in the New York and New Jersey General Assemblies, then interfacing with government and the legislature as a lobbyist for the state’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Those early years taught her how legislation moves, how decisions are made, and how relationships shape outcomes.

These lessons continue to guide both her work and the firm’s philosophy. Today, Trish is proud to be running an operation that translates complexity into clarity, aligns strategy with purpose, and helps clients create positive, lasting impact in New Jersey and beyond.

Appointments

• Advisor on Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s Interdisciplinary Advisory Task Force
• Served on Governor Phil Murphy’s Environment and Energy Transition Committee
• Served on Governor Richard Codey’s NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities

Community Involvement

• Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics, New Jersey Bipartisan Coalition for Women’s Appointments’ Advisory Committee.
• Executive board member of the Drumthwacket Foundation (2019-2025)
• Past Chair of the Women’s Political Caucus’ Political Action Committee
• Trustee Emeritus
  • Bucks County Playhouse
  • Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce
  • CASA of Mercer and Burlington Counties

Influencer Awards

• BINJE Best Power Players (2026)
• No. 2 InsiderNJ’s Lobby Power List (2024-2025)
• InsiderNJ’s Power 100 List (2018 – 2025)
• No. 2 on the ROI Influencers: Women In Business (2025)
  • No. 3 in 2024 and 2023, No. 9 in 2022 and 2021
• ROI-NJ’s Influencers Power List
  • Consultant Influencer (2023 – 2025)
  • Government & Public Affairs Influencer (2018 – 2022)
• NJBIZ’s The Lead: Women-Owned Businesses (2025, 2024)
• ASW Shavonda Sumter’s Women Power List (2025, 2023)
• ROI-NJ Top 140 C-Suite Champion (2024)
• NJ Globe’s Power List (2018 – 2023)
• InsiderNJ’s Top 100 Policymakers List (2018, 2019)
• Senator Weinberg’s Women’s Power List (2018, 2020, 2023)
• PolitickerNJ’s Power List (2013-2014)
• NJBIZ’s Best 50 Women in Business (2008)

Community Awards

• NJ Chamber of Commerce’s Women of Inspiration (2025)
  • Recipient of the Private Sector Advocate Award
• YWCA of Princeton’s Tribute to Women Award (2019)
• Emerge New Jersey’s Bench Builder Award (2017)
• Executive Women of New Jersey (2016)

Education

• Bachelor of Political Science, Utica College of Syracuse University
• Master’s in Government Administration, University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Center of Government