About Dan Venable
Dan Venable was born and raised in rural Thurston County. He has lived 50 of his 57 years in rural Thurston County District #3. Dan is a product of the local public schools, starting at McLane Elementary and graduating from Tumwater High School in 1970. His 1st job, at the age of 16, was as a dish washer at the Truck Stop on 93rd Ave. After high school he served his country for six years in the United States Air Force. Dan worked at Hardel Plywood for several years. During his time at Hardel he was on the Board of Directors. While there, he served one year as Treasurer and four years as Vice president.
For the next 12 years he worked for the Department of Corrections at McNeil Island. While there he supervised the farm project and then was promoted to plant manager. In this position he oversaw a multi-million dollar budget and developed a program to educate and train inmates on the removal of asbestos. Dan’s innovative ideas and ability to think outside of the box allowed his inmate programs to flourish. His programs provided skills to inmates so they could work and support themselves after completing their sentence. It also saved the tax payers several million dollars by using the inmate programs to remove asbestos for several state agencies.
In 1994 Dan and a partner created Associated Environmental Group Consulting Firm. In 1998 Dan founded Advance Environmental, Inc. He is currently the head of this corporation. Their work involves removing asbestos, underground storage tanks and doing mold remediation. Dan has also been an active leader in county cleanups and rehabilitation of methamphetamine drug labs sites. For many years he has worked with public and private agencies to help educate the public about the horrors of methamphetamine addiction and manufacturing. In dealing with these issues, he has worked closely with Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, and Grays Harbor Counties. Over the last 15 years Dan has worked with many federal, state and local government agencies. Dan has been dealing with environmental issues for the last 20 years.
Dan has been married to his wife Cathy for 36 years. She was also born and raised in rural Thurston County District #3. They have three children. Their enthusiastic involvement with the 4-H horse program can be attributed to their two daughters, Jennifer and Mandy. Dan and Cathy’s son, Todd, kept them active as well with his baseball activities thought out his grade school, high school and college years. All three of their children are married and have given Dan and Cathy seven wonderful grandchildren. Dan and Cathy have been involved in local youth programs with their children and grandchildren for three decades and are regular financial contributors to these programs.
Dan’s experience and his lifelong active commitment to making his community a better place make him an ideal choice for Thurston County Commissioner.
