On the agenda: Gardner meeting — data center (Jan 20)

CITY OF GARDNER
MASSACHUSETTS 01440-2630
OFFICE OF THE

CITY COUNCIL
________________________________

__________________________________

NOTICE OF JOINT CONVENTION OF
CITY COUNCIL AND GARDNER SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical
School District Committee Appointment
The City Council and School Committee will meet in Joint Convention on

Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at 7:15 p.m. in the City Council Chamber, Room
219, City Hall, to appoint a Gardner resident to serve on the Montachusett
Regional Vocational Technical School District Committee for four years.

TITI SIRIPHAN
CITY CLERK

Eric Commodore
January 19th, 2026

[email protected]

City Clerk
95 Pleasant Street, Room 121
Gardner, MA 01440
Members of the Gardner City Council
Member of the Gardner School Committee
Please accept this letter as my request for appointment to the Montachusett Regional
Vocational Technical School District School Committee.

Gardner, MA

My professional background and service on the Monty Tech School Committee during
2010–2018 and 2022–2026 prepare me well to represent the City of Gardner and its
residents.
During my tenure, I actively participated in committee work, held senior leadership roles,
and supported student initiatives including CyberPatriot and MCJROTC.
Leadership roles:
• Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee
• Chair, Financial Planning Subcommittee
• Chair, Technology Subcommittee
• Vice Chair, Workforce Planning Subcommittee
I applied private-sector experience to advance the district’s strategic and financial goals.
Key accomplishments include:
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Creation of the MVP Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the Commonwealth
expanding access to vocational education for students in the Gardner, Fitchburg,
and Narragansett School Districts
Negotiating three teacher contracts and new agreements for the
Paraprofessionals and Cafeteria Staff
Delivering $10.8M in energy upgrades and replaced the roof at no cost
Implementing a one-to-one technology initiative for 1,435 students
Launching the Vet Tech program with a 7,500-square-foot student-built facility
Hiring two Superintendent Directors
Managing the district budget to maximize student outcomes and ensure
responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

If appointed, I will continue to represent the City of Gardner, its residents, and its students
with commitment and integrity.
Sincerely,

Eric D. Commodore

Eric Commodore
Senior Technology Leader | Risk, Resiliency & Digital Transformation
Expert | [email protected] | Linkedin.com/in/ericcommodore/
Risk-focused technology executive with a proven record of reducing operational and technology risk while delivering
multimillion-dollar cost savings and measurable improvements to pre-tax income. Expert in aligning technology strategy
with business objectives to strengthen resiliency, optimize operations, and protect enterprise value.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Risk & Resiliency: Identity & Access Management, Vulnerability Management, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity,
Risk Identification, Risk Mitigation
Governance & Controls: Audit & Compliance, Regulatory Alignment, Control Testing, KPI/KRI Reporting, Vendor
Management
Strategy & Leadership: Strategic Planning, Financial Management, Workforce Strategy, Stakeholder Engagement,
Change Leadership
Delivery & Operations: Process Improvement, Demand Management, Project Management, Technology Modernization,
Agile Delivery
Certifications: CISSP, CRISC, ISC2 CC, PMP, CSPO, Register Scrum Master, Registered Scrum@Scale Practitioner
EXPERIENCE
BNY, Westborough, MA
May 2021 – Present
Sr. Vice President, Technology Control Management
Accountable for cybersecurity and technology risk management for the Fund & Investor Solutions Platform, spanning IAM,
vulnerability management, controls, and audit/regulatory alignment.
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Executed IAM onboarding for 300+ applications across SailPoint, Access Hub, SSO and MFA and implemented
control testing to validate IAM effectiveness and compliance
Reduced vulnerabilities by 87% and breached vulnerabilities by 99% through targeted remediation and
governance improvements
Supported SOC1, SOX, ISO 27001 and GDPR audit readiness and responses to strengthen regulatory posture
Standardized risk reporting to improve consistency and reduce reporting effort
Identified control gaps and implemented compensating controls to reduce residual risk exposure
Monitored KPIs and KRIs and implemented corrective actions to keep risk levels within defined tolerances

BNY Mellon, Westborough, MA
August 2018 – March 2020
Director, Technology Enterprise Resiliency
Led application resiliency and disaster recovery programs, managing regulatory risk, RTO/RPO alignment and
governance to reduce operational risk.
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Reduced policy non-compliance by strengthening DR standards and remediating IT asset data quality gaps
Achieved sustained 100% DR test participation by implementing a repeatable tracking process
Reduced DR test selection time by 66% through development of an automated Power Query selection tool
Improved cross-team collaboration by centralizing DR documentation and best practices in Confluence
Partnered with the Global Transfer Agency CIO to reduce annual technology expenses by $5M+

BNY Mellon, Westborough, MA
March 2016 – August 2018
Managing Director, Stability Management
Directed efforts associated with evaluating, classifying, and improving the stability of the technology platforms supporting
the firm’s critical business services.
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Standardized application tiering and risk classification to map stability risk across critical business services,
enabling CIOs to prioritize remediation and improve enterprise resiliency
Led remediation of 2018 FRB findings for Critical Business Services, reducing regulatory and operational risk
Delivered $2.5M in savings by automating testing through strategic vendor selection and smoke test
implementation
Delivered $720K in annual cost savings by modernizing the Sub-Accounting platform with high-performance Flash
Disk Arrays

BNY Mellon, Westborough, MA
July 2010 – March 2016
Chief Administrative Officer, Asset Servicing Technology
Partnered with the Divisional CIO to lead financial, workforce, and vendor strategy for a 2,000+ employee technology
organization with a $200M+ annual budget.
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Developed a 3-year technology roadmap to reduce technical debt, consolidate platforms, and reduce vendor
dependency, improving strategic alignment and cost efficiency
Strengthened financial governance by standardizing CAO processes, increasing capitalized software reporting
accuracy by 23%, and reducing administrative effort by 26%
Delivered $5.25M in cost savings through infrastructure footprint optimization
Reduced Sub-Accounting operating expense by $828K and avoided $700K in hardware costs through
infrastructure modernization and data center migration strategy
Lowered development and support costs by establishing an offshore delivery model for the U.S. Transfer Agency

PNC Global Investment Servicing, Westborough, MA
March 2005 – July 2010
Systems Director, Enterprise Shared Services
Led the Distributed Systems Development organization, directing teams responsible for Call Center, Imaging, Workflow,
ICR, Voice Response, Cost Basis, and Tax Reporting capabilities. Drove modernization, integration, and operational
efficiency initiatives that strengthened competitiveness, improved service delivery, and reduced cost
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Enabled seamless acquisition integration of PNC Global Investment Servicing into BNY Mellon by assessing IT
assets and mitigating migration risks
Built and deployed a Tax Shared Service platform that improved accuracy and reduced expenses by $1.1M
Enhanced competitiveness by developing a J2EE Web Front-End for the Operational Desktop platform
Delivered operational efficiencies and cost savings by optimizing scanning workflows ($300K annually),
decommissioning idle servers ($700K avoided), and redesigning VPN connectivity ($525K annually)
Managed strategic vendor partnerships with BancTec, Captiva, and Pegasystems to improve operational
throughput and delivery

EDUCATION
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Master of Business Administration, Bentley University
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, Fitchburg State University

VOLUNTEER
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
2024 – Present
Green Team contributor for the DOE Cyber Force Competition, assessing usability and providing competitor feedback
InfraGard National Members Alliance
Collaborate with FBI and private-sector partners to protect U.S. critical infrastructure.

2023 – Present

Monty Tech School Committee – Vice Chair
Partner with educators and city leadership to improve local education policy.

2010 – Present

JROTC Advantage, Cyber STEM Camp Instructor
Instructed 200+ Marine Corps JROTC Cadets how to build and program Vex Robotics Robots.

2015 – 2019

Fitchburg State University Alumni Board - President
Contributed to alumni engagement efforts and enhanced university outreach programs.

2008 – 2019

TECHNICAL SKILLS
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Cybersecurity, Risk & Controls: Veracode, CAST, Qualys, Splunk, Technology Control Framework
Identity & Access Management: SailPoint, Access Hub, Zero Trust Architecture, Plain Language Entitlements
Regulatory & Risk Assessments: ISO 27001, SOC 1, SOX, GDPR, RCSA
Data & Analytics: Power Query, Oracle SQL, BusinessObjects
AI & Automation: Microsoft Copilot, AI-assisted productivity and analysis
Collaboration & Workflow: SharePoint, Confluence, Jira, Microsoft Teams, ServiceNow
Project & Portfolio Management: PPM, Microsoft Project, Visio, Excel
Development & Delivery Foundations: COBOL, RPG, Visual Basic, C (Unix), Git, SDLC, Agile