Mr McGrath was appointed unopposed and said he was thrilled at the prospect of giving back to the community.

Mr McGrath said when he took over as practice manager of Saines Lucas Solicitors he looked for ways to integrate further into the Horsham community.

"I believe if you're going to be involved in a community, you need to contribute," he said.

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"We have offices in Horsham and Ballarat, and it was one of the first things I looked at."

Within two months of taking up the role of practice manager at Saines Lucas joined Business Horsham.

"Rather than just a membership, I chose to go along as an observer to meetings," McGrath said.

"After about twelve months I was asked to go on the committee, even if I had to attend via distance from Ballarat.

"When COVID wasn't knocking us around I'd be in Horsham every week."

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Despite being based in Ballarat, Mr McGrath is no stranger to the Wimmera, having spent much of his childhood in Horsham and Dimboola before ending up in Ballarat.

"You always seem to end up where you started," he said.

For McGrath, the progression to chairman was a natural one.

"In some ways it's anticipated that the deputy might be the next person to step up at the departure of the existing chairman," he said.

"It is open for others to nominate for those roles, however there weren't multiple candidates on this occasion.

"It's been a progression, but it comes from my work with Saines Lucas.

"I don't think it's a matter of what I might get out of being chairman, it's about what you can put in, what you can contribute."

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Mr McGrath replaces outgoing chairperson Paul Atherton who was appointed in June 2019 and steered Business Horsham through the COVID-19 pandemic and an expansion into West Vic Business.

"Paul was fantastic in the role and had great insight and understanding," Mr McGrath said.

For McGrath, the importance of organisations such as West Vic Business has been highlighted by the past two years.

"They've always been important, however they've taken on a greater degree of importance in the past two years with COVID and the disruption to business," he said.

'Business network groups are great, both in the sharing of knowledge and the support they provide to members.

"It's good to just have people you can bounce ideas off.

"All groups like ours, chambers of commerce and the like, are doing similar types of activity and supporting their local areas."

Even after a tumultuous few years, Mr McGrath said he believes the future is positive for Wimmera businesses.

"Some businesses have struggled, some have boomed, others have tapped into new technologies to enable business to continue with the minimum of disruption," he said.

"People are aching to get out and about, and as more people are out and about spending patterns will somewhat return to what they were, but a lot of business will remain online.

"Things won't necessarily go back to the way they were but we are getting past a lot of the disruption."

"Brighter times are ahead."

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