Boss looks ahead

COMMITTEE for Dandenong has a new chairman and plenty of improvements in its sights.
Gary Castricum takes the reins from inaugural chairman James Sturgess from M. and K. Lawyers, who was instrumental in setting up the committee.
Mr Castricum said the group and the Dandenong community’s challenges were continuing the suburb’s revitalisation, improving transport connections in the region and cementing a long-term vision for what the city could be.
He said Dandenong’s image needed to be accurately portrayed by telling the many good stories at both the business and community levels.
He said long-term opportunities with education institutions and speciality traders must be seized to continue to develop central Dandenong and transport issues, including rail grade separation, needed to be addressed.
“I have personally been a beneficiary of Dandenong and everything that Dandenong has to offer and I now look forward to continuing to give back to this community through my role,” he said.
Mr Castricum’s father arrived in Dandenong from Holland in 1951 and the Castricum family has owned and operated butcher shops and businesses in Dandenong continuously for almost 60 years.
Mr Castricum was born at Dandenong Hospital and lived in Dandenong North for the first 21 years of his life, attending St Gerard’s Primary School and St John’s Secondary College.
He worked in Dandenong for pharmaceutical company Beacham Research Laboratories before joining the family business where he’s been for the past 25 years, as managing director since 1998.
What do you think are the biggest issues facing Dandenong, particularly Dandenong businesses? Email casey.neill@starnewsgroup.com.au or call 5945 0666.