Former ambulance chief to pilot veterans’ organisation expansion.
FOR an organisation that likes flying under the radar, the Air Force Association WA division’s choice of high-profile new chief executive Michelle Fyfe is a signal of significant change.
The association, which trades as RAAFA, last week announced the appointment of the former St John WA boss to replace 10-year chief executive John Murray, ending a decade of renewal and upgrading.
Already the state’s number one retirement village operator and 12th biggest aged care operator, RAAFA has plans to expand into a new service line with a new facility in Cannington for veterans who are homeless or at risk.
There are also other expansions of existing business lines and big possibilities around its Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek.
Mr Murray believes his work over the past decade has created a foundation to be built upon and the organisation can safely spread its wings.
“We fly under the radar,” Mr Murray told Business News.
“[But] a lot of what we want to do now has a greater level of engagement outside the organisation itself.”
For her part, Ms Fyfe has not taken the role for the profile. RAAFA is about half the size of St John WA and is but one of numerous operators rather than the near monopoly the ambulance service maintained.
“If in my role as CEO I can get out there and sell the organisation and spread information about the organisation in the community and get the community to understand all the great work we do … then I will absolutely be doing that,” Ms Fyfe said.
The new chief executive’s high profile comes partly from her four years leading St John, with the last months of that challenged by near-daily headlines as the organisation arm-wrestled with the state government over issues such as emergency response times.
Ms Fyfe said she was ready to focus on the next task.
Among a number of major projects under way at RAAFA, Mr Murray highlighted plans for a significant new service operation running a program for at-risk veterans following the Andrew Russell Veteran Living model founded in South Australia.
RAAFA bought a 1,000 square metre site in Cannington – across the road from Carousel Shopping Centre – as a home to the program for ex-service personnel who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Less well-developed, in public at least, are plans to rehouse the Bull Creek museum, where a significant collection is kept in a tin shed.
RAAFA has a turnover of $80 million a year, employing more than 800 people and about 3,500 members for whom it provides veterans’ advocacy and support services.
In physical assets, it has 1,500 retirement village units spread across seven sites in WA and 450 beds in aged care.
