Max Genin

 Max Genin is a Toronto-based international lawyer and development policy professional working across multilateral governance, human rights, and regulatory reform. He is pursuing a Masters (ALM) in Global Development Practice at the Harvard Extension School, Harvard University, and a MicroMasters in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy with MIT J-PAL. As North American Chair and Program Lead for the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) MDP’s Global MDP Challenge, he designed and piloted a 24-country youth-led SDG incubator program, in partnership with the Leopold Bachmann Foundation. To date, the program has run for two years and has funded pilots in South Africa. As an Advisor on Youth and Human Rights to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), he authored an updated brief on the implications of the UN Cybercrime Convention, co-designed the inaugural Youth Rights Academy, and advised on human rights mandates across conflict-affected regions including Colombia, Palestine, and South Africa. As a Steering Member of the UN Secretary-General’s Pact Implementation Working Group on Youth, he co-authored the UN’s Core Principles for Meaningful Youth Participation in Intergovernmental Processes, presented to all UN Member States. Earlier, in Canada, Max was a policy analyst with the Ontario College of Teachers, helping deliver four regulatory amendments modernizing licensing for 200,000+ teachers, and a project specialist with Mitacs, managing a C$5M portfolio of federal innovation programs. Max has spoken widely, including at the UN General Assembly, UNESCO, ECOSOC, the Vatican, and the Inter-Parliamentary Forum. 

At Harvard, Max was a Student Ambassador (2024–2026) with the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, co-chairing its Resource Mobilization Committee. Within the Office for Sustainability’s CSSL, he designed and piloted “CSSL as Consultants,” with the support of the office, placing 17 students across 8 enterprise consulting opportunities spanning 5 Harvard offices; now adopted by the Office, he serves as Student Lead for the program on the inaugural CSSL Board; Max is committed to a more just and sustainable world. He is a 2026 German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Inclusion Fellow, the first Canadian selected, and a member of Chatham House’s Common Futures Conversations, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Young Professionals Briefing Series, Evidence for Democracy’s Government Relations Committee, and Transparency International Canada’s Legal Committee. He holds degrees in political science (University of Toronto), international development (London School of Economics), European and international affairs (CIFE), and international law (Leeds Law School), and speaks several languages.