Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation on Monday announced the resignation of Faith Richie as its chief executive officer.

Richie, who led VCCC for four years, has accepted an offer from Alameda, Calif.-based Telecare Corporation as vice president for national marketing and program development.

“We will truly miss Faith and her solid leadership of this organization, but because of her organizational skills, Valley Cities has a strong senior leadership team in place,” said board chairman Brian Wilson. “Valley Cities is fiscally sound and has highly skilled staff.”

Richie was unavailable for comment Monday morning.

Development Director Pam Taylor said in a release that the board will conduct an extensive national search to find the best candidate for the job.

Valley Cities, located in Auburn, is a community mental health center serving adults, children, youth, families and veterans. Established by the people of South King County in 1965, today it operates comprehensive outpatient clinics in Auburn, Federal Way, Kent and Renton.

Taylor said Valley Cities has made many advances in the past four years with Richie at the helm, expanding its sites, services, housing development and acquisition. It has also enjoyed a 19-percent growth rate and low staff turnover during that time. Richie will be based in Washington for two years while her youngest child finishes high school, but plans to move her family back to California.

The announcement was made just as VCCC was preparing to hold a community celebration recognizing the grand opening of the Valley Cities Landing, from 4-7 p.m. Friday at 2516 I St. NE, Auburn.

Valley Cities Landing is a 24-unit permanent supportive housing project dedicated to serving homeless individuals with persistent mental illness and veterans with mental illness. The housing is combined with support services that address physical and behavioral health issues, improve connection to community resources and increase skills that build and sustain ongoing housing stability.