907searsSenior Vice President for M&T Bank

R. Buford Sears is a Senior Vice President for M&T Bank. Currently, he is the Area Executive for Connecticut, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Tarrytown. In addition, he serves as Senior Health Care Advisor to the Health Care line of business. Buford joined M&T in 1992 as Vice President of Canadian Banking. He has over 16 years’ experience at M&T, ranging from Manager of National Banking to Manager of Health Care to his present assignment. Prior to joining M&T, Buford held various management positions for Citizens & Southern National Bank including Manager of the European Representative Office (London), Area Manager for their International Division in Europe and Canada, and Manager of Middle Market Corporate Banking in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also Manager of Atlanta Private Banking for Nations Bank. Buford earned a BA in International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University. In September 2007 Buford was named to the Roswell Park Cancer Institute Governance Board by NYS Governor, Eliot Spitzer. He is a trustee of the National Investment Center for the Senior Housing and Care Industry. He is past Chair and Emeritus member of the Board of Trustees of Hospice Buffalo, a former trustee of the Nichols School and the Niagara Health Quality Coalition, and past gubernatorial appointee to the New York Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century (Berger Commission).