Banking On OCC - Mark Tryniski, '81

Mark Tryniski is passionate about the time he spent at Onondaga Community College, how it impacted his life, and how it continues to impact the lives of thousands of people just like him. “I believe in OCC very deeply, the quality of the education, the affordability, the accessibility, and the breadth of different programs that are relevant to further education and career opportunities.”

Tryniski came to OCC from Fulton's G. Ray Bodley High School with what he admits was an atypical amount of enthusiasm for a teenager. “I was really excited about the prospect of learning. I understood that learning and getting a good education was going to be important to my future opportunity in life.” He loved everything he found at the College. “They offered small classrooms and great faculty with outside experience that was focused on teaching and student learning.” Tryniski excelled in school and graduated in 1981 with a degree in Business.

While working at Fulton Savings Bank as a teller, Tryniski received “the best career advice I ever got.” Bank President & Chief Executive Officer Mike Pollock told him he needed to go back to school and get a four-year degree in Accounting. Tryniski did just that, and he graduated from SUNY Oswego in 1985. What did his accounting degree give him? “Opportunity. It’s a tremendous degree in terms of its demand in the marketplace, not just from accounting firms but from a variety of other businesses who need accounting and financial skills in their operations. It’s a very versatile degree.”

Tryniski used his degree to get a job at Coopers & Lybrand. The company would later become PricewaterhouseCoopers. He spent 18 years there, leaving to become Chief Financial Officer at Community Bank. In 2006 Tryniski was named President & Chief Executive Officer, a position he still holds today. Tryniski is also a member of Onondaga Community College’s Board of Trustees Finance Committee.

More than 30 years after his graduation, Tryniski’s passion remains strong. “OCC is one of this community’s greatest treasures. There are more than 12,000 students here learning in a high quality environment with high quality faculty, and a broad breadth of programs and degrees that are directly relevant to a better future. OCC’s students live here, work here, raise their families here, have a vested interest in this community, and are most likely going to stay here. What greater resource can a community have?”