Alumni Interview: A Talk with the Inspiring Mary Ann Rettig-Zucchi '76

By Abigail Coburn | October 27, 2022

In spirit of this CSJ’s Women in Business theme, I had the privilege to sit down with entrepreneur, Mary Ann Rettig-Zucchi. Mary Ann Rettig-Zucchi was a member of Holy Cross’s class of 1976, which was the first Co-Ed class in the school’s history. As this year marks 50 years of Co-Education at Holy Cross, it warrants a look into who some of the strong women who made up the class were. These women are much deserving of our appreciation. Mary Ann, alongside a fellow Holy Cross graduate and friend, co-founded Jupiter Consulting Group, which consults companies on how to optimize authentic connections and productive work relationships. Mary Ann’s risk in deciding to start this consulting firm mirrors the risk she took in deciding to join the Holy Cross community as one of the few brave women in the class of 1976. In our conversation, Mary Ann highlighted how who she is and how she operates has a lot to do with her time on Mount St. James. She highlighted how during her time at Holy Cross, she had very few female role models–within the faculty there was only a female assistant dean of students and women were quite the minority within the student body. Mary Ann attributed the cultivation of her leadership skills to this reality of life at Holy Cross. She shared how, “there were no female campus leaders to follow, so we did the leading.” It is this reality that has encouraged Mary Ann’s leadership skills and allowed her to be a successful leader within her own business. Because of how women were the minority within the student body, Mary Ann also shared how she has strong relationships with fellow female students. It was within these relationships that they supported and inspired one another. This ability to make these strong connections has also translated into how her consulting firm consults companies to foster these strong connections with employees. Mary Ann’s connections with her fellow female classmates allowed them to have a better experience on Mount St. James. She has been able to transfer this reality over into how companies can optimize results when they have a workforce that feels connected with one another. It was a pleasure to sit down with Mary Ann, as her and her fellow female classmates of the class of 1976 are an inspiration to not only Holy Cross female students today, but all students.