Robert Gioia Steps Down After Appointment to International Joint Commission
The Board of Directors of Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT) named Michael W. Cropp M.D., M.B.A, to serve as Chairman of the Board effective August 1, 2024. Dr. Cropp is the chief executive officer at Independent Health, a local health insurer serving 400,000 customers and has served on the BCAT board since 2019. BCAT offers cost-free programs designed to engage, build skills, and highlight new opportunities so that high school and adult students have the tools to build stable, hopeful, and financially secure futures.
Dr. Cropp is a board-certified family physician with more than 25 years of experience practicing medicine. Working as a physician leader, Dr. Cropp has a long and distinguished career in public health service. He was an associate medical director and family physician for three managed care organizations, and also served as medical director for the Millard Fillmore Health System. In 1996, Dr. Cropp joined Independent Health as executive vice president and chief medical officer and was appointed president and CEO in 2004.
He has been a strong community advocate and has extensive involvement with local organizations in addition to his role at BCAT. Dr. Cropp was appointed by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo to the University at Buffalo Council and the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council. He also serves on the boards of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, and previously served on the boards of the Response to Love Center, the Olmsted Center for Visually Impaired, and the University at Buffalo Foundation. Dr. Cropp serves as the chair of the advisory board to FTI Consulting’s Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy and was the founding chair of three local 501c3 organizations – HealtheLink (our regional information organization), the Population Health Collaborative, and GO Bike Buffalo.
Dr. Cropp succeeds Robert D. Gioia, who served as Chairman since 2018 and has been on BCAT’s board since its creation in 2013. Gioia was instrumental in bringing BCAT to Buffalo after learning about the concept developed by Bill Strickland in Pittsburgh.
Gioia was required to give up his formal role on the Board after he was appointed by President Biden to serve on the International Joint Commission that includes representatives from the United States and Canada, for preventing and resolving disputes over waters shared between the two countries and for settling other transboundary issues.
Dr. Cropp commented, “There are many facets to a healthy community and creating strong, positive economic futures are a critical part. BCAT provides the pathway for high school students to stay in school and develop new interests and talents that inspire their future pathways, while the adult workforce program develops a strong local employee base, particularly in healthcare and IT. I am proud to lead this organization at a critical time of growth and as BCAT moves to its new home in the Pratt-Willert Park neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side.”
Robert Gioia added, “It has been my honor to serve as BCAT’s Board Chair. Since BCAT was formed in Buffalo a decade ago, it has consistently delivered on its promise to build strong positive futures for its high school and adult students and to deliver quality employees for the area’s employers. It has been so exciting to watch this organization grow and contribute to our community and I look forward to continuing to support BCAT in new ways.”
Founded over ten years ago, Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology, offers cost-free adult workforce training programs in Allied Health, Landscape and IT fields that lead to meaningful employment with family-sustaining wages, and a cost-free high school arts and technology afterschool program that motivates students to stay in school and graduate with an actionable pathway into college and fulfilling careers. Both programs are offered in a welcoming, supportive, and inspiring environment.
