BPO announces board appointment, foundation chair

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society Inc. elects Peter Eliopoulos to board

Mark Collard is new chair of BPO Foundation

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society Inc. has announced the appointment of Peter Eliopoulos to a three-year term on the board of trustees (effective immediately), and the election of Mark Collard as chair of the BPO Foundation.

Eliopoulos is a senior vice president and chief marketing officer of M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust. He began his banking career in 1988 as a management associate with Citibank, and then spent 10 years with the management consultant firms of A.T. Kearney and Mitchell Madison Group, where he advised financial services and media companies on strategic growth and organizational improvement initiatives. In 2003, Eliopoulos returned to Citibank as senior vice president and director of marketing, where he managed the bank's marketing and advertising programs. In 2005, he assumed the additional role of North American sales director. In 2007, he joined M&T Bank as chief marketing officer, where he leads a team of more than 100 marketing and communication professionals at M&T and its renowned wealth management firm, Wilmington Trust.

Eliopoulos holds an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business, and a bachelor's degree from Brown University. He is active in the Hellenic American Bankers Association and the New York Philharmonic Society. A musician himself, he joins the board of the BPO after nearly a year of providing hands-on assistance with marketing and fundraising for the orchestra's May 8 appearance at Spring For Music at Carnegie Hall.

Collard was elected to serve as chair of the BPO Foundation, the 501(c)3 organization that manages the endowment of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He takes over for Luke Jacobs, who served two successful terms in that role. By virtue of this role, Collard will become an ex-officio member of the BPO board of trustees.

Collard is managing partner and co-founder of Amherst-based Landmark Wealth Management. Prior to starting Landmark, he was the managing principal of Odyssey Advisors Inc., an investment advisory firm he founded and operated for six years.

Collard graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Management, with an executive master's of business administration degree. He earned bachelor's degrees in finance and accounting from St. Vincent College.

In 2009, Collard received Business First's "40 Under 40" award, which recognizes rising leaders in Western New York. He is a member of Try-It Distributing Co. board of advisors. He is also on the boards of Goodwill Industries, and Hasek's Heroes, and the advisory board for the State University of Buffalo's Terese Kelly Investment Group.