Trudi Carey
Award Sponsor: CSU Channel Islands
Trudi Carey is a licensed architect, real estate broker, and general contractor. By combining these disciplines, she has built fully integrated businesses focused on design excellence, efficient use of resources, and meaningful integration into the communities they serve.
Trudi serves as president of the Carey Group, founded in 1979 in Santa Barbara. The firm provides architectural design, construction, development, and property management services. She is also president of Salesworks, founded in 1983, which specializes in new-home brokerage, feasibility studies, and real estate marketing services.
The Carey Group began as a traditional architectural practice serving custom single-family home clients and later expanded to work with major institutional and commercial clients, including First American Title, UCSB, the El Encanto Hotel, the Towbes Group, Montecito Bank and Trust, Sandpiper Golf Course, and other large real estate developers throughout California and Arizona. Among the firm’s most significant projects was the rezoning and land planning of 220 acres in Oxnard, now known as Mandalay Bay, where vacant land was dredged to create a waterfront residential community.
While continuing to serve large development clients as architects, the firm began in-house development. Projects evolved from custom homes to condominium communities, single-family subdivisions, apartments, and self-storage facilities, including Patterson Self Storage in Santa Barbara, which is managed by the Carey Group today. Serving as architect, general contractor, and real estate broker on her own developments brought a unique level of efficiency, cohesion, and attention to detail to each project. She is currently completing SB-Views, a 27-unit apartment community on Calle Real.
The Carey Group has received numerous awards for its work and has developed a strong local following for its residential and self-storage projects.
Trudi has also been deeply involved in community and professional leadership. She served on the Board of Directors of Midstate Bank and Trust for nine years prior to its sale to Rabobank and was a Board member of the Scholarship Foundation for 17 years. Additional service includes the CALM Auxiliary Board, the Building Industry Association County Board, and the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo School of Architecture and Environmental Design Advisory Board.
Trudi earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, graduating with highest honors in 1978. Her sons, Nathan and Sam Carey, are both actively involved in the family business.