Kichline, Arkoosh to receive Devereux award

Michelle Kichline and Valerie Arkoosh share much in common.

Both are graduates of highly respected colleges, the University of Pennsylvania for Kichline and Northwestern University for Arkoosh. Both continued with their education, getting gradate degrees, Kichline in law and Arkoosh in medicine. Both live in well-to-do suburbs of Philadelphia, Tredyffrin in Chester County for Kichline and Springfield in Montgomery County for

Arkoosh.

Both, too, are the children of immigrant parents, growing up hearing of life in different countries and different cultures. They were both elected as county commissioners in 2015, having initially been appointed to fill vacancies on their respective boards. Now, they both serve as the chairwomen of those boards.

Thursday, they will share another commonality. The Main Line Chamber of Commerce, its Society of Professional Women and Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, are naming the two women cohonorees of the 2018 Helena Devereux Women in Leadership Award.This is the first time in the award’s history that the honor will be shared between two individuals.

What Kichline is quick to point out, in a friendly way, is that the difference that separates them is the ranking of their counties as healthy places to live. Her Chester County is first in the state; Arkoosh’s is fourth.

“They just can’t seen to get to where we are,” Kichline gently noted in a recent interview.

What also separates the two are their respective political parties: Kichline is a Republican, Arkoosh a Democrat. In her interview, Kichline said she was proud to know that the chamber had given the award to member of opposing political parties, because it shows how bipartisan governmental success can be, and because she has never seen Arkoosh as a political rival.

“I was really stunned and honored (to be nominated for the award,) she said. “I was also very honored to find out that the chamber wanted to send a positive message about what politics can be when people work together. (Arkoosh) and I never think of each other as Democrats or Republicans. We just represent our constituencies.”

The two women serve together on the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and have worked with one another on the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association. Both have dedicated themselves to working to stem the opioid crisis in their respective counties, Kichline said.

“With this award the chamber is making a clear statement that we support strong women of both political parties in this region and across the nation taking their place as leaders in government and business,” said Bernard Dagenais, president and CEO of The Main Line Chamber of Commerce.

In its 10th year, the award is being presented as the nation approaches the centennial year in 2020 of the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

In its desire to encourage women of both major political parties to seek office, the chamber decided to award both Arkoosh, a Democrat, and Kichline, a Republican. Both are accomplished in the world of business as well as politics, who work across party lines to empower women and make a significant impact on our region.

The Helena Devereux award is given each year, typically to a senior-level executive woman who has achieved exemplary professional and personal accomplishments and has significantly, ethically and memorably impacted the Greater Main Line area.

Helena Devereux was an American educator who founded the Devereux Foundation, headquartered in Devon. She is considered a pioneer in the field of special education, in 1912, having begun the first Devereux School for Exceptional Children in her home with less than $100.

Prior to the awards ceremony on Thursday, Kichline spoke about the role that politics has played in her life and career, from her childhood in Tredyffrin with her parents, Bela and Angela Haris, who escaped Communist oppression in their native Hungary in 1956.

“My parents are not from this country. I grew up talking about politics probably more than most of the kids in my classes” in the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District. She learned the shape of the world both politically and geographically, and found herself being able to identify the countries of the world s early as 5th grade.

Her father was an activist during the Hungarian Revolution, and so was very concerned with national and international politics during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Kichline says she became a Republican as an international political science major at the University of Pennsylvania, admiring such national figures as former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Ronald Reagan.

The Haris family had personal, negative experiences with Socialism and Communism, she said, and stridently opposed them. Even as such, her father was distrustful of oneparty rule, and argued that it put too much power in the hands of a single entity. “My parents always voted for people, not the party,” she said. “They talked about a person’s qualifications. When your family grows up in a one-party system as mine did, that’s too much control.”

Working together as partners in county government has become a hallmark of the commissioners for some yers now, unlike other counties and other times in Chester County’s history. “We check each other, but we remain bipartisan.”

“Chester County is a very special place,” she said. “We have a very educated citizenry, and policy wise we work together so well.” She and her fellow commissioners, Democrat Kathi Cozzone, the board’s vice chairwoman, and Terence Farrell, Kichline’s fellow Republican, approach their job by asking what is best for the county. “That is what our citizens want,” she said. “They want problems fixed. They want results.” They don’t necessarily want people standing on a soapbox, she said. “We’re trying to make things happen, and address progress in a positive way.”

Kichline says she see county government as “a $500 million business. The way I look at it is that I’ve got a bunch of customers, our citizens, and Kathi and Terence and I work together. When people get into philosophical (difference), you’re no longer getting results. The bottom line is what people want.”

Kichline said that of the achievements the board has been able to accrue during her tenure, the one she is proudest of is the attention to the opioid crisis in the county. This will be the third year that the county as raised funds for treatment of those who suffer opioid overdoses at area hospitals, now with a major sponsorship she hopes will bring additional resources to the effort. But, she adds, “We’ve got a long way to go.

The Devereux award will be handed out during a lunchtime ceremony Thursday at the Philadelphia Country Club in Gladwynne. Attending with Kichline will be her husband Michael Kichline, an attorney in Philadelphia, and her son Andrew, a senior at Conestoga High School, daughter Amanda is away at Cornell University.

Asked if she has aspirations for higher office, Kichline demurred. She said she and Arkoosh have both been approached about running for state or national positions, and have spoken of the pressures. She said she has adopted her fellow Devereux Award winners stance. “I still have things I want to get done here in Chester County,” she said. “This is where I want to be.”

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan, call 610-696-1544.