Max Skudra, Director of Research and Government Relations, CCAB

Max has significant experience conducting research on the Aboriginal economy: its entrepreneurs, community-owned corporations, and Aboriginal business relationships. He has led research-focused conferences, roundtables, focus groups, interactive and innovative design thinking workshops, individual qualitative and quantitative interviews; and spoken at numerous government, corporate, and Indigenous events on these topics across the country. Max’s work at CCAB has informed the Government of Ontario’s Indigenous Economic Development Fund (IEDF), investing $95 million over ten years in Aboriginal business and Indigenous communities. He has also worked directly with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to identify economic Aboriginal economic development as an important area of study in their ‘Future Challenges’ process and adjudicated SSHRC grants to academic research over $250,000.

Max currently serves on the Working Committee developing the Indigenous chapter for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) alongside Global Affairs Canada and a small team of key stakeholders including the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Métis National Council. He is also a member of the Canadian Project Consultative Committee for The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international initiative for Indigenous economic development. With his professional experience and aptitude, Max Skudra is well qualified to successfully plan, conduct and present practical knowledge and research for the proposed project.