TONY DOYLE has been appointed the new permanent chief executive officer of the Southern Grampians Shire Council.

The appointment was made at Wednesday’s special council meeting.

Mr Doyle was appointed as the interim chief executive in September and has held other senior positions including chief executive at Knox City Council, chief executive at Hindmarsh Shire Council as well as the state manager at the National Australia Bank.

His qualifications include a Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Economics with a double major in Accounting, and is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Southern Grampians Shire Council mayor, Bruach Colliton said Mr Doyle’s appointment followed a rigorous and comprehensive recruitment process that attracted a strong shortlist of candidates.

“During the recruitment process we as a council were impressed with the quality of applications received,” he said.

“We are excited to have Tony here with us in the Southern Grampians on a more permanent basis as he brings with him not only extensive experience in economics, but has experience in local government through his time as CEO at city based Knox and rural Hindmarsh Councils respectively.

“Tony has contributed significantly already in his short time with the Southern Grampians as interim CEO and has been instrumental in advocating for the region on a political level to increase funding for key growth projects and advocate for priority services in the region.

“We look forward to working with Tony over the next few years to implement strategies outlined in our recent Council Plans and Vision, and are excited by his commitment to serving our Southern Grampians residents.”

Mr Doyle said he was looking forward to meeting challenges presented in the region and supporting the Southern Grampians with pandemic recovery.

“During my time here in the Southern Grampians as interim (chief executive), I have been lucky enough to meet a lot of wonderful people and have been in absolute awe of the beauty of the landscapes we are so lucky to class as our backyard,” he said.

“My last few months in the region has shown me what a strong and resilient community we have in the Southern Grampians. I have also seen the tremendous potential and opportunities that lie ahead and am very excited to take the helm as CEO.

“I’ve come into the council at a time where a number of important key projects such as the Pedrina Park Inclusive Sports Hub, Cox Street, HRLX underpass and more, are either already progressing or about to start which makes me really excited to be part of the team seeing these projects through.

“My wife and I are looking forward to Southern Grampians becoming our home and to being part of the community.”

Asked by The Spectator what inspired him to apply for the permanent job, Mr Doyle said the regional lifestyle was a big attraction.

“When I was CEO at Hindmarsh Shire, just northwest (of) here, I really loved working in the role - that rural environment, working with rural communities,” he said.

“When I went back to Melbourne to a metropolitan council, I really lost that.

“It's coming back here that made me realise it's the richness of working with rural communities and the enjoyment that I personally get out of that and the reason why I'm in the sector, is because I really want to make a difference to a community - that's why I left banking and finance … I wanted to really work closely with the community and make a difference to people's lives.”

Mr Doyle said the response from his family and friends back in Melbourne had been overwhelmingly positive – “they're all pretty excited” – and he was already expecting to see them make the trip to Hamilton regularly.

“They're all incredibly supportive, and I think we'll probably have a constant stream of visitors,” he said.

“We've always found that we've made new friends where we've moved to and kept all our old friends, so it's always been an enriching experience.”

Although as a bushwalker he had been familiar with the Grampians, he hadn’t been around the town itself as much before arriving here and his time as interim chief executive had afforded him the opportunity to get to know the region better.

“It was probably a bit of an unknown quantity – I’d been to Hamilton before but not really looked around the area and I quickly realised what a breathtakingly beautiful and diverse municipality it is, with so much to offer,” Mr Doyle said.

“I think, personally, living here and making this our home provides tremendous opportunity, but I think professionally working with council there's lots of opportunity ahead for the organisation and for the community as well.”

One of his personal opportunities was dropping a line into the water on a regular basis.

“I’m a very, very keen fly fisherman,” Mr Doyle said.

“I'll be exploring the rivers and the creeks and the lakes up in the Grampians and up in Rocklands.”

Mr Doyle will transition from his interim role to appointed chief executive on December 25 and is contracted for five years on a performance-based contract.