General Manager

Employment Type:

Full-Time, Exempt

Reports To:

Board of Directors, Southern California Retreat Foundation

Compensation: $125k-$165k, commensurate with experience and qualifications

Location:

Montecito, California (on-site).

The Southern California Retreat Foundation (SOCARE) is seeking an experienced, entrepreneurial, and mission-driven General Manager to lead the operational revitalization of La Casa de Maria—one of Southern California’s most storied retreat and conference centers. Founded in the 1950s by the Immaculate Heart Community, La Casa de Maria sits on 26 acres in the foothills of Montecito—nestled between the San Ysidro Creek and the Santa Ynez Mountains, minutes from the Pacific Coast.

Following the devastating 2018 Montecito debris flow, La Casa has been on a deliberate path of renewal. Campus revitalization is now underway, with facilities being brought back online in a phased approach. The General Manager will lead this next chapter: standing up operations, building a team, filling the retreat calendar, and delivering the kind of hospitality and guest experience that La Casa was known for across seven decades of service.

This is a rare opportunity for a hospitality or retreat center leader who wants to build something meaningful—not just manage it. The right candidate will combine hospitality-centered operational excellence with genuine alignment to La Casa’s mission of fostering renewal, connection, and service.

The Southern California Retreat Foundation is a nonprofit operating foundation dedicated to the stewardship and operation of retreat centers that foster renewal, connection, and service. SOCARE currently manages La Casa de Maria in Montecito and Big Bear Retreat Center in the San Bernardino Mountains.

The Foundation’s mission is to sustain and grow accessible, mission-driven retreat destinations where individuals and communities can gather for contemplation, learning, healing, and dialogue—in settings of exceptional natural beauty.

La Casa de Maria has served as a sanctuary of peace for individuals and groups since the 1950s. Originally established as a retreat house by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, it evolved into an interfaith, inter-spiritual retreat and conference center open to communities of all backgrounds. Over the decades, La Casa hosted approximately 12,000 guests annually across 250+ groups—faith-based communities, nonprofits, educational institutions, healing and wellness organizations, and social justice groups.

The property is remarkable: a 26-acre campus in the foothills of Montecito, shaded by heritage oaks and specimen trees, with a fully-operational citrus orchard, gardens, walking paths, a labyrinth, chapel, and the original 1920s stone manor house designed by architect Mary Craig. The Center for Spiritual Renewal, housed in the manor, has long offered individual and couples retreats in an atmosphere of quiet hospitality.

The January 2018 debris flow caused significant damage to portions of the campus. Since then, the Immaculate Heart Community has undertaken careful planning and visioning to bring La Casa back to life in a way that honors its legacy while positioning it for a sustainable and inclusive future. Campus revitalization is now actively underway.

La Casa de Maria is a sanctuary of peace for individuals and groups as they renew purpose, strengthen community, and increase their effectiveness in the world.

Through our programs and environment, persons of all spiritual paths search for wisdom, engage in dialogue, embrace the sacred, and nourish body, mind, and spirit—so that, refreshed and renewed, they participate more responsibly in the…