Wenatchee Valley Humane Society’s new director focuses on staffing, community engagement

BJ Andersen joins Wenatchee Valley Humane Society with 20 years of experience.

COURTESY OF WENATCHEE VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY

WENATCHEE – The Wenatchee Valley Humane Society appointed BJ Andersen as its new executive director on Nov. 4, following the departure of James Pumphrey in June.

Andersen first began her career in animal welfare 20 years ago, when she applied for a Kennel Manager position at the Willamette Humane Society.  

“I thought I was coming in to work with dogs, and what I really learned was that I was coming in to work with people…Every pet we serve has people attached to it. In some way, there are people in that pet’s story. And I really love helping people, particularly when it comes to how they connect with animals and the natural world,” said Andersen.

In 2014, she became the Executive Director for Willamette Humane Society. In 2022, Andersen negotiated a merger with Oregon Humane Society in order to expand animal welfare resources in the Willamette Valley. After the merger was complete, Andersen served as the Senior Philanthropic Advisor to the president and CEO. Later, she assumed the role as Director of Volunteer Engagement, generating and implementing training and management systems for over 1,300 volunteers.

Andersen said she had long admired Wenatchee Valley Humane Society’s former executive director Dawn Davies’s work to build the clinic, pursue progressive programming and meet the community’s needs.

“When the Wenatchee Valley opening came across my awareness, it just felt like a right fit for me. This shelter is similar in size and programming to what we created at Willamette Humane Society…I think that my experience here will really benefit the organization, the community,” said Andersen.

In her new role at the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society, Andersen plans to apply her experience leading the similarly sized Willamette Humane Society, as well as her knowledge gained from the merger, such as scaling up a program, implementing good change management, and collaborating with the community to move through significant changes.

“[Wenatchee Valley Humane Society] has definitely been through a lot of leadership changes in the last three or so years, and that's hard on an organization…I think one of the things that's really important in new leadership, in change management, is making sure that I am hearing from all the different voices, but I'm hearing from all the different perspectives, that everyone has a voice at the table, and that we communicate really clearly when we're making changes,” said Andersen.

Andersen’s highest priority for the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society is fully staffing the organization’s clinic services.

“I'm definitely looking to recruit licensed vet techs for our program. Once we have that team fully staffed, I think we're going to be able to offer a lot more services to the community, and I know that there's an incredible demand for those services,” said Andersen.

In the future, Andersen said she also hopes to expand animal care and control officers in ways that are engaging with human and social services, as well as build partnerships with communities and organizations within and neighboring the humane society’s jurisdiction. For now, she plans to find ways to best support staff and engage with the community.

“I'm finding the community really cares about this organization, and they really want the humane society to thrive and be successful. So I'm open to hearing what that means to people in the community, and helping them to understand where we're at and where we are on this path. So it's going to be an ongoing conversation,” said Andersen.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media