With a background in retail and marketing and a lifelong love of the sport, Penn has hit the ground running.
The Give Hockey A Go programme, which brings free coaching sessions to schools, enjoyed a successful pilot run last year with the primaries.
This year it is planned to extend it to secondary schools.
An information kit is going out to all coaches and managers of rep teams, and the senior club prizegiving event, which Penn initiated last year, will continue after plenty of positive feedback.
A former representative player when she lived in Nelson, Penn turns out as a forward for the Castlecliff club and was part of a makeshift Wanganui team that took on a touring British army side last week ... "which just showed how unfit I am".
"There's a lot to put in place but I am loving the job and just can't put my pen down.
"I've had great support from the Hockey Wanganui board and I am looking forward to working with the wider community."
Penn added that her experiences as a player would, hopefully, mean she could understand and appreciate the players' needs.
Hockey Wanganui - which has 780 registered players - has been re-structured following the shock death late last year of popular administrator Ross McLauchlan.
Board member Ian Glenny said it was an opportunity to try something new and the board had been very impressed with Penn, who started the fulltime job on January 31.
"She has good communication skills and good relationships with volunteers and stakeholders," said Glenny.
So Penn's only problem now will be finding time to keep daughter Taylah up to scratch as she goes into the new season at St John's Hill School.