Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology Announces Appointment of Four New Board Members

Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology Announces Appointment

of Four New Board Members

The Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology (BCAT) is pleased to announce the appointment of four new members to its Board of Directors. At the organization’s annual meeting in June, Melissa Archer, Dr. Ian Barrett, Mark Gaulin, and Elizabeth Gurney were elected to serve an initial three-year term on the nonprofit’s governing board.

BCAT delivers innovative arts and workforce development programs that equip high school and adult students with the tools necessary to achieve financial security and build positive futures. The organization offers a comprehensive arts and technology afterschool program for high school students, along with workforce training in Allied Health, Information Technology, and Landscaping for adults.

With the addition of these four new members, BCAT’s Board of Directors now comprises 14 members. The Board is chaired by Dr. Michael Cropp, President and CEO of Independent Health.

“We are delighted to welcome Mark, Ian, Melissa, and Elizabeth to the BCAT Board,” said Dr. Cropp. “Adding new perspectives, skills, and experiences to BCAT’s leadership only makes us stronger and better able to serve our community. We are especially pleased to include local employers as we continue to strengthen partnerships that support student internships, shadow days, and meaningful career opportunities. Each of these individuals has demonstrated support for BCAT in unique ways, and we are honored to welcome them in this new capacity.”

The newly appointed board members bring a diverse range of professional experience and community leadership to BCAT, further enhancing the organization’s mission to bridge opportunity gaps through education, creativity, and workforce readiness.

New Board members include: 

Melissa Archer, PMHNP-BC, MSN, BSN is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with SENSES Medical Wellness, a behavioral health organization committed to providing compassionate and personalized care to individuals, couples, and families seeking support for their mental well-being.

Dr. Ian C. Barrett is Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at Kaleida Health, the largest healthcare provider and largest private employer in the region with 11,176 employees and 1,527 providers.

Mark P. Gaulin is a distinguished business and civic leader who serves as President & CEO of PCI, a Buffalo-based Managed Service Provider (MSP) supporting client systems, cloud and networks. 

Elizabeth Gurney, now retired, served as Director of Corporate Philanthropy at

KeyBank and Executive Director of the First Niagara Foundation. At KeyBank she directed KeyBank’s strategic philanthropic investments across the nationwide enterprise with a focus on education, neighborhood prosperity, workforce development and community service. 

Located on Buffalo’s East Side in the historic Pratt-Willert Park neighborhood, Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology (BCAT), provides pathways for its students to create positive futures. The organization 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. 

For more information, please visit www.buffaloartstechcenter.org

M&T Charitable Foundation Sees BCAT as Key to Strengthening Community  

When Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology was still in the idea stage more than a decade ago, M&T Bank was part of the founding group of funders that helped bring the arts and technology nonprofit to Buffalo after learning about its success in Pittsburgh.  Along with First Niagara Foundation, The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and The John R. Oishei Foundation, M&T believed that the model could help build brighter futures for both high school and adult students. 

“M&T Bank’s mission is to strengthen the communities where we operate,” says Don Elick, Senior Vice President, Regional Manager for the M&T Charitable Foundation, “and BCAT does just that by providing a practical pathway to strong futures and jobs that offer family sustaining wages.” 

BCAT’s high school afterschool program, with its focus on the arts also aligns with M&T Bank, according to Elick, sharing that the bank has a long history of supporting arts and cultural institutions. He adds that the arts play a transformative role for young people in building confidence and helping them choose their future pathways. 

Elick notes that BCAT continues to adapt to the needs of the community by expanding their offerings. While first focusing on Allied Health training, BCAT has more recently added technology training for adult students. “There are not enough trained professionals for tech jobs in the area. BCAT’s focus on this training is something that can benefit M&T directly, and more importantly, benefit our region by building a pipeline of future employees for in-demand jobs. 

M&T Bank has furthered its support by contributing the BCAT’s Capital Campaign to provide funding for the recent move to its new East Side location at 368 Sycamore Street.  “We are so excited about the new location that provides room for BCAT to expand. They have demonstrated proven impact and we are very happy to help them increase capacity to train more students and provide opportunities for strong futures that benefit individuals and the entire community,” added Elick.

Community Member’s Support for BCAT Continues to Grow

When Stephanie Rivera, owner of Half Luna Empanadas, was recruited by a friend and colleague to serve on the BCAT board, she was somewhat familiar with the organization and as she learned more, she realized how much BCAT’s work aligned with her interests and values. 

Stephanie learned about BCAT’s high school afterschool program from a friend’s Instagram post about her daughter helping to create a beautiful outdoor mural. Rivera then discovered BCAT’s Adult Workforce Program and began to refer the parents of her students from her previous not-for-profit job to BCAT as a possible option for workforce training. She was so impressed with what BCAT has to offer and how community-centric they are that she accepted a role on the board and has become a BCAT champion ever since.

BCAT’s recent move to 368 Sycamore Street on Buffalo’s East side cemented Rivera’s respect for BCAT. According to Rivera, “BCAT walks the walk. Moving to the East Side demonstrates their commitment to the community despite the fact that they had to overcome many challenges to do so. Most importantly, they were very intentional in meeting with community members to gain understanding, ask how they can help, and build trust – that speaks volumes!”

Rivera connects her work with BCAT to her personal experience as she recounts how the arts kept her engaged in school as BCAT’s high school afterschool program does for its students. She also sees the adult workforce program as a pathway to better jobs and careers for many and notes that her parents did not have access to similar programs when they initially moved to Bufalo years ago.

Having served as a board member since 2022 Rivera is now lending her time and talents to serving on the BCAT’s Leadership Cabinet for the Capital Campaign and is working to recruit young leaders to help support the organization. 

“BCAT made a choice to support the community,” says Rivera referring to the East Side move, “they put the work in and it is great to be around those who want to see others succeed – it is inspiring and empowering.”