ITA (née Carpenter) - businesswoman, broadcast journalist, actress, author, real estate broker, political researcher - is a cum laude graduate of the University of Texas and a graduate of the Harvard Business School's Executive Education Program.  Upon graduating from the University of Texas, Rita 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 capital, she served as a research associate, under the Chairmanships of Senator Hubert Humphrey and Senator Ted Kennedy, 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 1980s, Rita 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 performance in "The Philadelphia Story."  In 1987, she appeared on the New York stage in Cynthia Heimel’s, "A Girl’s Guide to Chaos."  Rita's film roles included an appearance in an Orion Classic Film, "End of the Line."

As an on-air journalist, Rita, reported on "This Evening with Nancy Glass," CBS, San Francisco and on Fox Television’s "A Current Affair."  She interviewed a diverse group of personalities from Lech Walesa to Imelda Marcos to Bill Cosby.

In 1990, Rita founded her commercial real estate firm and has concluded over one billion dollars in real estate transactions, which include selling Donald Trump the General Motors building in Manhattan.  Rita 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.

Rita resides in Rome, with her husband, HSH Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi, Prince of Piombino XII*, and she spends her time writing.  She has just completed her third book, a thriller.