Director, Catholic Conference Center

Job Type

Full-time

Description

Position Summary:

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte owns and operates the Catholic Conference Center, a retreat and conference center in Hickory, NC. The center has fifty lodging rooms, a dining area, meeting rooms that seat up to 240 people, two retreat houses, and 180 acres of landscaped and wooded acreage. The position of Director has top management responsibility for all aspect of the center operations including facility maintenance, groundskeeping, marketing, and financial performance. The center operates as a stand-alone cost center with the expectation that revenues from events will offset all center expenses. Total expenses are $1,000,000. Approximately 5,000 people visit the center each year for various events and retreats.

Key Responsibilities:

Facility Maintenance

The director is responsible for keeping all aspects of the facility operating and in good repair. The major areas include a boiler room, a wastewater treatment plant, a pump house that supplies all water to the main center, multiple HVAC units, internet service, AV equipment needed for various events, outdoor landscaping, and staying ahead of general wear and tear of a highly used facility.

Staff Recruiting and Development

Because of fluctuating schedules, the center operates with a small core full-time employees. The additional demand is supported with a pool of part-time employees. The director will need to continually identify and hire employees that have the skills, work ethic, and personality compatible to a religious establishment that is focused on spiritual growth and renewal.

Selling and Marketing

The director will need to promote the center and promote various events taking place. The marketing uses a multi-pronged approach with regular additions and improvements to the website, frequent posts on social media, weekly email blasts, and blog posts. The director will need to be the ambassador for the Catholic Conference Center at various conferences and networking events. To meet financial objectives, it is often necessary for the director to structure and promote center-sponsored retreats to maximize facility usage.

Guest Experience

The director will need to assure that guests have a positive experience during their event or retreat. The director will seek feedback from guests through satisfaction surveys and personal conversations. From this feedback, the director will continually make improvements to hospitality, dining, lodging, and the guest's overall experience. The overall experience begins with the initial inquiry, and continues through the quotation process, providing the desired event set-up, executing the event, invoicing and conducting follow-up surveys.

Diocesan Compliance

The director will need comply, and make sure all employees comply. with diocesan policies, including hiring, financial, personnel, payroll, legal, and safe environment requirements.

Vendor Contracts

The director will maintain and develop qualified venders for all services, receiving competitive bids and renegotiating contracts regularly. The top vendor contracts are the wastewater treatment plant operator, the HVAC contracts, the lodging room cleaning service, the landscaping service, and the laundry service. Other vendors that need to be maintained include electricians, plumbers, contractors, painters and others as needs arise.

Financial Management

The director is responsible in achieving budget objectives, with the goal to have revenues offset operating expenses. As part of this responsibility, the director will track and report key metrics each month, make future projections, maintain the integrity of the business system, and report monthly revenue, accounts receivables, tip accruals, and active deposits.

Spiritual Renewal and Growth

The center's mission at its heart is one of evangelization and renewal through hospitality and service. The director supports this vision by graciously accommodating all guests, and by implementing offerings that compliment and deepen this mission such as spiritual direction, retreats, and enriching workshops.

Direct Reports:

The current direct reports are a full-time Hospitality Manager and a full-time Executive Chef and Kitchen Manager. Not currently a direct report are a full-time Maintenance Associate, a part-time Sous Chef, and about 12 part-time positions.

Requirements

Education:
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in business, hospitality, or culinary arts.

Experience:
Minimum of 5 years of top-management experience overseeing all aspects of an operation to include marketing, facility maintenance, and financial performance.
A plus would be experience in event planning and hospitality.

Basic Skills:
The basic skills of the director would be excellent verbal and written communication, proficiency in Microsoft Office products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Forms, and Teams, with special emphasis on Excel.
Knowledge of VBA and HTML would be a plus.
Familiarity with general ledger and income statements is needed.
The director will need to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, hospitality setting.
The retreat center operates seven days a week, 24 hours per day, so the director will need to be able to delegate and define staff responsibilities so all guests have a satisfying experience at all hours of the week.

Hands-on:
Because of budget considerations, the director is often 'hands on' in areas that make sense from a skills or a financial perspective. These contributions might include website maintenance, social media, landscaping, light carpentry, painting, cheffing, or any number of other activities that need to be done or will make a difference.

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