Town Manager Kerry Lafleur announced the appointment of Jeffrey Weiner as chief information officer Sept. 29. Weiner will lead the IT department, which includes the GIS division and the Minuteman Media Network, the community TV station for Concord and neighboring Carlisle. The town’s Broadband division remains under the Concord Municipal Light Plant, led by Director Jason Bulger, who had served as interim CIO since May.
Weiner arrives in Concord after more than a decade with Massachusetts’ Wakefield Public Schools, where he served as technology director and district library services administrator. While there, he created a multiyear IT strategy and launched a cybersecurity training initiative that led to a 60 percent drop in phishing incidents. His background also includes service in the U.S. Air Force.
Lafleur expressed confidence in his appointment in a recent statement and said Weiner’s “extensive experience and strategic approach to technology are exactly what the town needs. His proven ability to align technology initiatives with broader organizational goals and his clear vision for the future of our technology program will be an asset.”
Concord has already been experimenting with ways to integrate technology into residents’ daily lives. The Concord Free Public Library’s “Library of Things” enables people to borrow items such as virtual reality headsets, coding kits and audiovisual tools, providing access to emerging technologies and promoting digital literacy.
Weiner’s arrival also coincides with broader, tech-enabled municipal initiatives. Concord, working with nonprofit OARS 3 Rivers and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, recently secured a $450,000 state grant to establish the SuAsCo Climate Collaborative, a two-year project aimed at improving climate resilience in the area. The initiative is supported through the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, which funds local climate resilience projects and uses data-driven assessments of critical infrastructure and natural resources to identify regional priorities for flood mitigation, green stormwater infrastructure and other resilience measures.
In overseeing the IT department, Weiner will be supporting these initiatives through digital tools and GIS capabilities, while helping Concord and its regional partners manage data, coordinate planning and communicate with residents. He’ll also lead overall strategic IT initiatives.
