Rita Jenrette, Washington DC

Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Carpenter, parents of Rita Jenrette

Rita Carpenter Jenrette, upon graduating from the University of Texas, was named Research Director of the Republican Party of Texas, where she authored a book on the Presidential Preference Primary System. During her tenure there she was a lecturer at the Taft Political Institute at Trinity University. A year later, she accepted the position as Research Director of the Republican National Committee, in Washington, D.C.

During her time in our nation’s capitol, she served as a research associate, under the Chairmanship of Hubert Humphrey, at the Office of Technology Assessment, where she co-authored a report on World Food Hunger. This report was presented to the Presidential Commission on World Hunger. OTA is one of the research branches of Congress.

In the 1980’s, Ms. Jenrette pursued a career in the fields of entertainment and journalism. She modeled for Clairol, and in l982 received the Los Angeles Drama-Logue Critics Award for her role in “The Philadelphia Story”. In 1987, she appeared, in New York, on stage in Cynthia Heimel’s, “A Girl’s Guide to Chaos”.

As an on-air journalist, Ms. Jenrette, reported on “This Evening with Nancy Glass”, CBS, San Francisco and on Fox Television’s ACA. She interviewed a diverse group of personalities from Lech Walesa to Imelda Marcos to Bill Cosby.

In 1990, Rita Jenrette founded her commercial real estate firm and has concluded over one billion dollars in real estate transactions, including selling Donald Trump the General Motors building in Manhattan. Ms. Jenrette has been described as, “…power broker, New York Style…” by, Crain’s Business, April 1-7, 1996. She is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York.