Business Orange president Daniel Sutton lays out plan for the future

Mr Sutton had been the treasurer of the group formerly known as the Orange Business Chamber for half-a-decade prior to his appointment.

He took over for Jack Evans who was elected to Orange City Council at the last election, but has remained a board member of the group.

"Because it had been so familiar to me, it felt like a natural selection to me. I couldn't see too much changing from what I already did," Mr Sutton said.

"The handover has been seamless so it hasn't been a drop and run situation at all."

The new president works for the Morse Group in town, where he took managing the Orange office back in 2015, one year before he joined the business chamber.

Going forward, Mr Sutton said one of his main points would be trying to get members to voice their issues and concerns.

"I feel like there's certainly a lot more that Business Orange can do for the local businesses," he said.

"I'm also part of the regional advisory board for Business NSW so I've got a direct line to policy and decision makers. What I'm looking for is more feedback from our members.

"We send out regular survey which we make sure they only take two or three minutes to complete just to find out where their pain points are at the moment so we can feed that information up the chain to state leaders and the treasurer to get some kind of solution."

The decision to appoint Mr Sutton as Mr Evans' successor was a unanimous one by board members, something that has instilled the new man in charge with confidence.

"I've gone through various board compositions and structures. I've seen six year's worth of awards and how they operate. I've seen before COVID and then through COVID and now post-COVID. It's nothing unfamiliar to me," he said.

Nominations for the annual business awards opened on Monday, with Mr Sutton hopeful they are just one part of what will make his tenure as president successful.

"We want more value for the members," he added.

"We've always had the awards which are great. They're an excellent form of recognition for businesses. We want to make sure the events we're putting on are delivering value to the members."

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