Juliana McArthur, pictured, will lead the group for a first term as president, and Stacey McAllan will step down from the role and into that of vice-president.

Treena Daniells will stay on as treasurer for a third term, and Susan Frater-Sims comes in as the secretary.

Mrs McArthur, a solicitor with her own practice and running a farming operation with her husband, said she had put up her hand to "see if I can support people; be their voice".

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"I just am constantly amazed by people in business: they innovate, they adapt, they're resilient, they get through tough times - and we're certainly having a very difficult time at the moment."

Mrs McArthur said there was "a lot of talent in regional areas that needs to be recognised" and "Gunnedah's got a great future".

Her "modest goal" was to get to better know the member businesses and how she could represent them.

The challenges she foresaw were "structural challenges as well as people's discretionary spending being a challenge in a drought".

"We've probably been in a recession regionally for eight months at least, so there's now a wider contraction in the economy," Mrs McArthur said.

"We've got lower interest rates, which should be stimulating spending, but that's not happening.

"I think government regulation can always be less and we're going to have to look at an overall approach to stimulating business."

The new president said Ms McAllan had "handed over a strong chamber".

"We have a strong team ... I'm really very excited about it."