Tredyffrin Democrats elect a new leadership team
The Tredyffrin Democratic Party elected a new leadership team at their monthly meeting on January 15. Kathleen Keohane was elected to serve as chair and Jerry Henige as vice-chair, effective immediately. They replaced retiring chair Dariel Jamieson, who will be moving from the Township, and vice chair, Murph Wysocki, who stepped down after his election to the Board of Supervisors in November. Dariel and Murph worked to build a more effective organization over the last four years and led at a time of changing party affiliation favoring the Democrats.
Both Kathleen and Jerry are long-time members of the TTDEMS. Kathleen has served as treasurer, a district coordinator and member of the executive committee. She is a committeeperson for part of Malvern and Paoli (W-1) and has worked on the campaigns of both state and local Democratic candidates. Jerry begins his second term as vice chair, having served with former TTDEMS chair Jayne Yockey from 2008 – 2010. He is a committeeperson for part of Devon (E-1) who has served on the executive committee and played a key role in the party’s local election activities. Jerry ran for Tredyffrin supervisor in 2007 and T/E school director in 2011.
Kathleen takes office following the election of four Democratic candidates to local office in November. “I am so proud of our members’ hard work this past year. We had a clear message to voters: it’s time to support a more balanced approach to governing. Voters agreed and elected Democrats Murph Wysocki and Mark Freed to the Board of Supervisors. Voters also chose the more moderate school board candidates Kevin Buraks and Scott Dorsey to help maintain the high quality of our schools. I hope to build on these successes by improving our voter engagement efforts and attracting new members.”
Kathleen and her family have lived in Tredyffrin for the past 27 years. She and her husband Bob are small business owners. Their three children attended T/E schools. She is a former teacher and editor with a B.A. in psychology and literature and an M.Ed. from Rutgers University. She attended University of California Irvine’s M.B.A. program. She currently serves on the board of the Great Valley Association and is secretary of the Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust.
Jerry and his wife Pat have lived in Tredyffrin for 20 years. He retired from Unisys/Burroughs after a 37- year career managing diverse groups and multimillion dollar budgets. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Michigan State. Jerry stays informed on issues of taxation, budget development and state regulation as they impact our state, township and school district. He takes his leadership role as vice-chair very seriously. “I plan to work hard this year to turn out the vote in Tredyffrin for state and federal candidates committed to ending legislative gridlock and getting something done. I look forward to helping our voters get to know more about the Democratic candidates and the issues at stake. “
