Tammy Ven Dange: RSPCA chief fit for action

For Nebraska-born, bucket-list chasing Tammy Ven Dange, appointed this week as RSPCA ACT chief executive, there's no question she has the drive.

In an adventure-packed 41 years, Ven Dange has spent the best part of a decade training or serving in the US Air Force, followed by two years at one of the few places that could boast even more impressive machinery - NASA.

But the travel bug may have started a lot earlier; thanks to a military father, Ven Dange spent most of the first four years of her life in Japan.

Upon returning to the US, the family moved into the tiny ski town of Ruidoso, New Mexico, where Tammy would stay - spending years in the same class as Neil Patrick Harris, of Doogie Howser MD and How I Met Your Mother fame - until she was 16.

''All through my schools, I was always in leadership positions,'' she said. ''People management [came] through the military.''

After 3½ years in officer training school, Ven Dange was sent to Germany, buying rather than flying, as an air force procurement officer. ''Everything from missiles to toilet paper,'' she said.

The lieutenant met her American husband-to-be while there, and after two years returned home. But for a sporty, action girl - her personal tweets can be found @canberracowgirl - her military routine got a little dull.

''I love the military,'' she said. ''But I ended up in an office; it just wasn't enough for me.''

With an MBA from Cornell University in the bag, the next adventure was to west Africa, where a year with the Peace Corps saw her embedded in the Cape Verde Islands.

It was here she set up her first not-for-profit entrepreneurial club.

''I'd spend half the time teaching business and the other half making jewellery out of shells and stuff so [they] can sell it to tourists,'' she said.

After that happy island time, she moved to Washington, and to her surprise landed a job in IT finance systems with NASA.

She lived through some of the darkest days in that other capital's history, from the Pentagon attack of September 11, the three-week terror of the DC Sniper, and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, which took seven lives.

It was 2006 before Australia came on the radar. She arrived in Canberra as her then-husband took up an embassy gig, and she started her own consultancy group, giving strategic management advice.

And when in all this action did the love for animals develop, a prerequisite, one imagines, for running the Weston headquarters?

''When I was 14, I started working for a vet clinic in New Mexico,'' she said. ''I was cleaning cages and feeding animals, it was a pretty dirty job really.'' Her current feline companion, Nasa, was found in a vent at the space agency.

On her first day on Monday, Ven Dange said she would rely on others for their animal-welfare expertise.

''I'm a pretty bad biology student,'' she said.

''I'm much better in business - that's why they've chosen me for this job, my proven leadership and management background.''

She said she had three main goals to achieve in the position, which she described as a dream job.

''To help with some of the staff morale things; to help with the financial sustainability of the organisation - because we are a charity and we are very dependent on the community; and finally, for us to build and eventually occupy our new home [in Symonston].''

She plans to take a hands-on approach with staff, promising to spend 20 to 30 minutes with each employee in her first 90 days to ask what they would like to change and keep the same about the busy centre.

But she will not be looking back at last year's publicised workplace unrest, which, she said, had hurt the charity's bottom line.

''If the past is important for the future, then I need to know. If not, I don't,'' Ven Dange said.

The RSPCA ACT launched investigations last year after nine staff made written complaints to the governing council in September about issues including underpayment, staff welfare and management style.

Staff morale, senior management said, had improved in recent months.

With a challenging year for charity donations expected across the board in Canberra, the test for morale is likely to be how much the budget allows for adequate staffing, but president Louise Douglas said the organisation had the right person at the top.

''She's a values-driven person, she has a very, very engaging personality style and she will set the tone in the workforce,'' Douglas said.

And once the big move to the planned facilities in Symonston - year yet unknown - was all done, Ven Dange, an Australian-representative dragon boat racer, admitted that might be her cue for the next challenge.

''I'm good with change. If it's only BAU - business as usual - there are better CEOs for that.''