Patricia Teffenhart (she/her/hers) joined the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce in August 2021, as the Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, where she leads initiatives to support and expand the business community’s commitment to, and advancement of, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Prior to joining the Chamber, Patricia served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) from 2013-2021. Under her leadership, NJCASA had a record of policy-making success, including expansion of the sexual assault forensic evidence timeline; successfully advocating for the passing of the Sexual Assault Survivors Protection Act of 2015; creating and Co-Chairing the Governor’s appointed Campus Sexual Assault Task Force; mandating regular training for law enforcement and prosecutors; closing loopholes in the hiring practices of school employees to protect children from sexual predators; expanding New Jersey’s civil statute of limitations for sexual assault; creating a restorative justice pilot project; and increasing appropriations for sexual violence services in the New Jersey State Budget from $900K to $12.6M.
Patricia is a proud graduate of Douglass College and holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration. She has dedicated her career to the promotion and advancement of women and girls, having worked for county-wide, statewide, and national feminist organizations. Patricia was a Fellow in the Leadership New Jersey Class of 2009 and is a 2014 recipient of the Alice Paul Equality Award. In 2015, under her leadership, NJCASA received the President Ronald W. Reagan Award from the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General in recognition of NJCASA’s systems advocacy on behalf of survivors. In 2016, NJBIZ recognized her as being one of New Jersey’s top Forty Under 40 professionals. In 2017, she was a recipient of Senator Menendez’s Evangelina Menendez Trailblazer Award. For the last seven years, Patricia was included in the Senate Majority Leader’s New Jersey Women’s Power List and in 2018, she was included in the Insider NJ Power 100 List. She was an appointed member of Governor Murphy’s Transition Team, and at the height of the #MeToo movement, attended the 2018 State of the Union as the guest of United States Senator Menendez. The Star Ledger included Patricia as one of the “Top 25 People to Watch in 2018” and in 2019, she was recognized by the Zero Abuse Project for her leadership in support of child sexual abuse survivors. She recently served as the elected Co-Chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council Against Sexual Violence and in 2020 she was asked by the New Jersey Senate Majority Leader, Loretta Weinberg, to be a member of the Workgroup on Harassment, Assault, & Misogyny in New Jersey Politics.
Patricia lives in Holmdel, New Jersey with Jason (husband), Lincoln (son), and Shortstop (rescue dog) and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Political Caucus of New Jersey and is an appointed member of the New Jersey Commission on the Status of Women and the Office of Corrections Ombudsperson Advisory Board. In her free time, she cheers for the Cage Academy 14U baseball team and the Woodbridge Wolfpack Bantom Minor youth hockey team. Perhaps, the thing of which she’s most proud is that she coached an undefeated 3 v 3 youth ice hockey team in the New Jersey Spitfire Tournament in March 2019.