Some of the area’s most influential community organizers and leaders were honored as The Baltimore Banner’s second class of Emerging Leaders on Wednesday night, which was presented by CFG Bank.
The 13 honorees shared their stories about how they’re making an impact in Baltimore and beyond at an event at The Center Club in downtown Baltimore. Each honoree was selected from a pool of community nominations by a committee of local leaders.
Read more about each honoree below.
Max Altmark, CFO, Concentric
Max Altmark is the CFO of Concentric Educational Solutions. (Kirk McKoy/The Baltimore Banner)
Education will always be at the heart of solutions to challenges Baltimore’s young people face, said Max Altmark, the chief financial officer of Concentric Educational Solutions, which provides services to address absenteeism for school districts.
Altmark said his family’s focus on the importance of education has stuck with him as he has pursued his own educational and career goals. He immigrated from Belarus to Baltimore with his parents and grandparents in the 1990s, and his family settled in Pikesville. Altmark is a grandson of Holocaust survivors, and his family found Baltimore and the Jewish culture around them welcoming.
“I always consider Baltimore my home,” he said.
He has found meaning in giving back to the Baltimore community since his high school and college days when he participated in community service projects. At Towson University, he was president of Beta Alpha Psi and a member of multiple national honor societies. Altmark graduated top of his class and was the winter graduation ceremony commencement speaker for the undergraduate class.
After Towson, he worked in an accounting career in audit practice at KPMG Baltimore and became a certified public accountant. While his professional training led him to a career in accounting and financial reporting, he continued to seek opportunities to serve.
He regularly came back to Towson for alumni and student group events hosted by Beta Alpha Psi and the National Association of Black Accountants. After KPMG, Altmark joined the Georgetown University Investment Office and completed an MBA from the McDonough School of Business. After Georgtown, he joined Project Lead the Way, which provides professional development to thousands of teachers.
He then joined Concentric, the Baltimore-based, minority-owned educational services company that provides comprehensive support, including home visits, tutoring and mentoring, for kids from elementary school to high school.
“No simple, easy solution” exists for addressing student absenteeism, Altmark said, but the engagement that Concentric offers has succeeded for the students and their families.
“We’re actually there in the community, in person,” he said. “We are members of the community.”
The guidance, mentorship and tutoring components are providing a solution to the chronic absenteeism affecting schools in Baltimore and elsewhere, Altmark said.
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