Editor of Bandworld Magazine and co-founder of Western International Band Clinic, he is Professor Emeritus of Music at Southern Oregon Univ. where he served as Director of Bands from 1967 to 1994. He is now Executive Director of The American Band College masters degree program in which over 200 candidates from over 47 states and 8 foreign countries are enrolled. He also continues as a WIBC Board member, has served on the Oregon Arts Commission and in 2014 was elected Chairman of the Board of the John Philip Sousa Foundation. He received the NBA Citation of Excellence and is a two-time recipient of the Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Certificate of Merit. In 1999 he was inducted into the Northwest Bandmasters Assoc. and received the Sousa Foundation’s highest award, The Medal of Honor.

He is an elected member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, hosted its 1988 national convention in Ashland and served on its Board of Directors from 2000-2002. Max was also presented the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic's Music Industry Award, the WBDI World of Music Award and the A.A. Harding Award by the ASBDA.