Carol Aichele
County Commissioner

Carol was first elected to the three-member Board of Commissioners in Chester County in November of 2003 and was re-elected in November of 2007. During both of these elections, Carol Aichele received more votes than any other commissioner candidate on the ballot.

Throughout her tenure as a commissioner, Carol Aichele has strived to make Chester County a better place to live, work and raise a family. Under her leadership, the County has been recognized as having among the lowest county property taxes in Southeastern Pennsylvania and has been rated by Forbes.com as one of the Top Ten Counties in the United States to raise a family. In addition, under Carol’s leadership, Chester County’s bond rating was elevated to Triple A status by Moody’s Investors Services. Despite national and statewide economic turmoil, Carol Aichele has helped make Chester County’s economy one of the fastest growing in Pennsylvania.

She has been recognized for her efforts in helping Chester County to preserve over 100,000 acres of open space and farmland. A staunch advocate of infrastructure improvements in Pennsylvania, Carol Aichele was elected Chairman of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

Prior to being Commissioner, Carol Aichele was the first woman to be elected Controller in Chester County and served as president of the Pennsylvania State Association of County Controllers. Every year during her tenure as County Controller, the Government Finance Officers of Pennsylvania recognized Chester County’s Comprehensive Annual Finance Report for “Excellence” in Financial Reporting.

Carol Aichele also served for six years as a member of the Tredyffrin-Easttown Board of School Directors, with two years as the Board’s President. The Tredyffrin-Easttown School District has been recognized as one of Pennsylvania’s finest. A former elementary and middle school math and science teacher, she is also the past chair of the Council of Trustees of West Chester University, past president of the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Delaware Valley Friends School.

Since 1978 Carol Aichele has served on the campaign committees of dozens of Republican candidates for local, county, state and national offices. She has been a member of the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee since 1990 and a Chester County Republican Committeewoman for more than twenty years.

Carol Aichele is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in economics. She and her husband, Steve, reside in Tredyffrin Township and have three grown children and three grandchildren.

Terence Farrell

County Commissioner

Terence Farrell began his first term as Chester County Commissioner in January of 2008.  He is the first African-American to hold this office in Chester County.  Farrell also has the distinction of being the first resident of Southern Chester County to hold this office in over thirty years.  Prior to being elected County Commissioner, Farrell served two four-year terms as Chester County’s Recorder of Deeds.  Mr. Farrell is active in the Republican Party of Chester County.  He was first elected Committeeman in 1990.  He served six years as Chairman of the Oxford Area Republican Committee, and has twice been elected Alternate Delegate to the Republican National Convention (2000, 2004).    Dedicated to the local community, Terence currently serves as a board member for Oxford Main Street, Inc., the Southern Chester County YMCA, the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School, and the Chester County Economic Development Council.    Terence is a licensed Realtor.  He holds a BA in English from Carleton College, and Graduate Certificates in Public Administration and Public Personnel Administration from Indiana State University.  He grew up on the campus of Lincoln University, where his parents both taught, and still lives nearby.  Terence has two adult sons, and one granddaughter.

Ann Duke

Treasurer

Val DiGiorgio

County Controller

Val DiGiorgio was sworn in as Chester County's Controller in January of 2005.  As Controller, Val is responsible for maintaining for Chester County proper accounting records and processes, paying county bills, managing payroll and retirement benefits on behalf of county employees, performing internal audits for county departments, and preparing the county's annual comprehensive annual financial report. He also serves a member of the Chester County Prison Board, Salary Board and Retirement Board.

Val is an attorney with experience in banking, real estate and municipal finance.  He also has a long record of public service, having worked as an auditor for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as an attorney in the Governor Ridge Administration and as Chief of Staff in the Senate of Pennsylvania. He has also served on numerous governmental and non-profit boards including the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, to which he was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005, the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry and the Uwchlan Township Zoning Hearing Board.

Joseph W. Carroll

District Attorney

District Attorney Joe Carroll was born and raised in West Chester.  He is a graduate of LaSalle University and the Villanova School of Law.  He began his law enforcement career at the Chester County District Attorney’s Office in 1975, and has served there for 29 of the last 32 years.  While working for the West Chester law firm of Malcolm & Riley in the early 1980s, Mr. Carroll was appointed as a Special Prosecutor to continue his work on the Johnston Murder cases.

While in the District Attorney’s Office, Mr. Carroll has served as a trial attorney in both juvenile and adult court, as an appellate attorney, and as the attorney in charge of the Investigating Grand Jury of Chester County.  He also has extensive experience managing electronic surveillance; as an instructor for police concerning criminal law, investigations and procedure; and as a lecturer for prosecutors statewide on various subjects.

In 1984 Mr. Carroll was appointed as the Deputy District Attorney in charge of the Law Division.  In 1989 he was appointed First Assistant District Attorney by District Attorney James P. MacElree, and remained in that position through the administration of District Attorney Anthony A. Sarcione.  Mr. Carroll has served as District Attorney since January, 2002.

Ryan Costello

Recorder of Deeds

Ryan Costello began his first four year term as Chester County Recorder of Deeds in 2008.  His experience as an elected official and his commitment to further technological improvements in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds helped him to win this seat with a margin of 56% to 44%.

Previously, Costello served on the East Vincent Board of Supervisors—two years as a Township Supervisor, and then four years as the Supervisor’s Board Chairman.  During Costello’s term, the Board successfully preserved over 390 acres of farmland without raising taxes.  Under his watch, the Board professionalized Township government services by hiring a Township Manager, implementing a Township website, and developing a quarterly Township newsletter to keep residents informed.

Costello previously served as East Vincent Township Republican Committeeman and as Area 4 Republican Chairman.  He has volunteered on various local, state and federal campaigns for over a decade.  Costello currently serves as a State Committeeman.

Costello is a 1995 graduate of Owen J. Roberts High School, 1999 graduate of Ursinus College, with honors, and 2002 graduate of Villanova Law School.  Costello practices with the Pottstown and Phoenixville law firm of O’Donnell, Weiss & Mattei, P.C.

Bryan Walters

Prothonotary

Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh

Sheriff

Carolyn Bunny Welsh of Chadds Ford, PA is the first woman to be elected Sheriff of Chester County.  She is the only female sheriff in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and one of only 38 female sheriffs in the nation. She is also the first woman to be elected president of a class at the National Sheriffs Institute at the Department of Corrections in Longmont Colorado.

In 1997 Sheriff Welsh was named one of the Top 50 Women in Business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  She received numerous Pennsylvania Senatorial Citations and commendations from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Her outstanding volunteer efforts in the community earned her the National “Eckerd 100 Women of 2000” award.  In 2002 Sheriff Welsh received the prestigious   “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” award from the National Center for Women and Policing. In 2004 Sheriff Welsh was inducted into the International Police Association Hall of Fame. Also in 2004 she was awarded the 2004 March of Dimes, Chester County Women of Achievement, Public Service award.

In 2004 she was elected to serve on the Executive Board of the Pennsylvania Sheriff’s Association. In July 2009 she will be sworn in as president of the Pennsylvania Sheriffs Association. This will be the first time in the 88 year history of the association that a woman has been elected to the top leadership position.

In June of 2005 Sheriff Welsh was selected by the FBI Training Committee and graduated from the Mid-Atlantic Law Enforcement Executive Development Program “LEEDS”. In 2006 she was presented with an award for “30 Remarkable Women Making Domestic Violence History” by the Pennsylvania Coalition against Domestic Violence.

Under the leadership of Sheriff Welsh, the Chester County Sheriff’s Office has received numerous awards and recognitions. In 2008 the CCSO was selected as the top sheriff’s office in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for Crime Prevention and Community Outreach.

Among her many accomplishments, Sheriff Welsh is also the mother of four, and grandmother of eight.

Paula Gowen

Register of Wills

As a forty year resident of Chester County Paula has served on numerous state, county and local Boards and Commissions. Most notably:

In addition to being elected to Township Supervisor and Tax Collector, Paula was elected to eight terms as a County Republican Committee woman, and five terms to the Republican State Committee. She is now enjoying her second term as Chester County Register of Wills/Clerk of the Orphans’ Court.

Paula is a graduate of Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. She and her husband, George, have been married for forty one years, have three grown children, and live in Thornbury Township Chester County.

Frank McElwaine

Clerk of Courts

Frank McElwaine was elected to the post of Clerk of Courts in November of 2009. Frank has been involved with the Republican Committee of Chester County for the last 20 years. He has served as a committeeman and as a past Chairman of Area 24, Westtown/Thornbury.

Frank also is a member of the Republican State Committee and has served in that post for the last 8 years. In 2008, Frank was named Republican of the year by his fellow committee members and he was also an alternate delegate to the RNC Presidential in 2008

Frank and Felice have 7 grown children and 15 grandchildren.

Dr. Steve Dickter

County Coroner

Dr. Steven Dickter was elected to the post of Coroner in November of 2009.  He has had a solo private practice in West Chester for almost twenty years, and is currently on the medical staff of Chester County Hospital and Brandywine Hospital. 

Steve graduated from Washington and Jefferson college with degrees in Biology and Business Administration and received his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.  His family practice residency was done at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine.  He is Board-certified in Family Practice. 

Steve and his wife and two sons live in Birmingham township. 

Mimi H. Sack

Jury Commissioner

Mimi Sack is a lifelong resident of Chester County and was elected to the office of Jury Commissioner in November 2005 and seeks re-election.
She has been a Republican Committee person in Honey Brook Township 1 since 1994, serving as Area Chairman and Area Secretary. Mimi has served on many campaign committees from Township Supervisors to the Presidential Campaigns and says that one of the highlights for her was volunteering at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000.