Sarah Tanbakuchi has already built her career around the premise that technology careers are an opportunity to reach into Buffalo neighborhoods and change lives for the better.
Now she just has a bigger pulpit.
Tanbakuchi has been appointed president and CEO of TechBuffalo, the nonprofit initiative that exists broadly to create more tech professionals in Western New York to meet the projected needs of employers in the years ahead.
That means attracting new tech workers to the area. It also means taking Western New Yorkers from other industries and up-skilling them into family-sustaining technology jobs.
“TechBuffalo is about growing an inclusive and accessible tech ecosystem in Western New York, with a mind toward prosperity not just in this generation but the next,” Tanbakuchi said. “To be able to be part of that, and to continue to set a strategic team and grow our team, is a mission that resonates deeply with me.”
Tanbakuchi earned her law degree and MBA from the University at Buffalo and joined Hodgson Russ LLP as an attorney. She entered M&T Bank’s executive associate program in 2015 and, in the last few years, helped lead the buildout of M&T’s Tech Hub and Tech Academy. She also led the partnership that created the Western New York Tech Skills Initiative.
Tanbakuchi also serves as a board member for the Kaleida Health Foundation, Road Less Traveled Productions and BAND Against Bullying, and she acts as chair of University at Buffalo School of Management Global Advisory Council.
She will technically remain employed by M&T but will focus all of her time on TechBuffalo.
There is plenty to do.
The nonprofit initiative was founded several years ago by Randy Harris and Duane Conners. Its profile was elevated in 2020 when it received a $2 million grant from Empire State Development Corp. – part of the state’s broader $12 million pledge “Buffalo-Niagara Talent Initiative” initiative to support tech careers – along with a $500,000 working capital loan from the Western New York Impact Investment Fund.
Together with a board of community leaders, Tanbakuchi takes over an organization that is meant to be an organizing principle in one of the great challenges ahead: creating a bridge between Western New Yorkers and the vast ocean of professional opportunities in tech.
“Tech isn’t just for the person with the four-year computer science degree," Tanbakuchi said. "There is an entire spectrum of opportunities and some of them are very accessible through things such as twelve-week training programs.”
Tanbakuchi and her “small but mighty” team of TechBuffalo personnel will spend the next few months fanning across the community, talking to employers, training and education entities and community organizations.
The real work will be in taking what already exists and fitting it together, then identifying gaps where new programs can be created. Perhaps most importantly, people need to know about it.
“When you look at homegrown talent, the question is how we make career pathways more accessible and visible to community members,” Tanbakuchi said. “We want to help them appreciate that tech is everywhere.”
