Maxim Thorne
Encyclopedia
Maxim Thorne currently teaches Philanthropy at Yale University and blogs in the Business Section of the Huffington Post. See Thorne Huffington Post Blog He was a senior leader of America’s oldest civil rights organization, the NAACP
. See example of visit to Cracker Barrell He served as a surrogate on the 2008 Obama presidential campaign
and the Campaign's LGBT Leadership Council and the Finance and Policy Committees. He is the current Senior Vice President and Chief Communications and Development Officer.
Thorne helped argue Abbott v. Burke
, the education case in the New Jersey Supreme Court
on behalf of Head Start and the NAACP, which the New York Times stated "may be the most significant education case since the Supreme Court's desegregation ruling nearly 50 years ago." He also serves on the Yale Board of Governors, and Yale Law School Executive Committee and is a spokesman for the US 2010 Census.
, Guyana
on November 24, 1964 but spent his early years in Nassau
, Bahamas attending St. Thomas Moore's Primary School, until he was 10 and then returned to Guyana where he attended St. Margaret's Primary School and then Queen's College
. His mother, who is of mixed India
n and Chinese
descent, met his father, who is mixed race – Black, Scottish, Indian and Chinese - while in Georgetown, Guyana. He immigrated to the United States in 1984.
He is the great grandson of Alfred Athiel Thorne ((A. A. Thorne) Barbados
August 14, 1871 - April 23, 1956), one of the first blacks to earn a masters degree from a British University (1892 BAA. of Durham
with honours; 1898, M.A., Durham) who founded the first high school (Middle School, Georgetown) for African boys and girls in 1892, and who was instrumental in having Queen's College
built and expanded in Camp Street in order that more Guyanese future leaders would be groomed. He helped with the early years of Wilberforce University
in Ohio
which purchased by the AME Church
in 1863 and became the first college to be owned and operated by African American
s. He helped found the League of Colored People and was principal architect behind the formation of the British Guiana Workers Union that helped lead the first anti-colonial and trade union movements in the Caribbean in late 1800 and early 1900s. A.A. Thorne served as Financial Representative and as a member of the Court of Policy, including serving on the 1905 conciliation team which met with the colonial Governor after the 1905 street protests in Georgetown.
with cum laude honors in economics and political science from Yale University
and a juris doctor
from Yale Law School
. He received the David C. DeForest Senior Prize for Oratory & Rhetoric (1st Pl. 1989), Townsend Rhetoric Award for Graduating Senior (1st Pl. 1989), Chase F. Coggins Memorial Travel Fellow Award (to France, 1989), Henry James TenEyck Award for Oratory & Rhetoric (2nd Pl. 1988), Yale-Richter (Economics) Award (to UK, Kenya, 1988), Mellon (Soc. Sci.) Fellow (to Kenya, Stanford University, CA 1988)
Parker D. Buck & Schulyer B. Jackson Sophomore Prize (1st Pl. 1987), McGuire/Rockefeller Fellow in Soc. Sci. (to Caribbean, NH 1986). He was admitted to the Supreme Court of New Jersey and US District Court (DNJ), December 1992, Certified to NJ Supreme Court (satisfaction of R.1:26) in 1992 and served on the NJ Supreme Court Committee on Complementary Dispute Resolution 2004-2006.
Thorne attended Queens College in Georgetown, Guyana from 1976–1983, for secondary school where he was Head Prefect, and as Captain of the Debate Team awarded the Sir Lionel Luckoo Cup, as well as the Best All Round Student Award ("For that student who by force of example has done his utmost for the school").
and litigation, with a significant commitment to educational opportunity and social justice. He currently teaches Philanthropy at Yale University and blogs in the Business Section of the Huffington Post.
Thorne has led the NAACP's national fundraising and communications efforts during its Centennial Year and its National Corporate Headquarters on Bryant Park
in New York City. He oversaw a $1,000,000 gift from Tyler Perry
, the movie mogul, which is the single largest given ever given to a civil rights organization by an entertainer and the development of the NAACP's principal gifts and endowment. As Chief Development Officer he worked with AT&T
's CEO Randall Stephenson who chaired the NAACP's Centennial Corporate Campaign; in 2010 UPS
succeeded AT&T to Chair the NAACP Second Century Corporate Campaign. He introduced Julian Bond
and spoke at the National Equality March
on the National Mall
in Washington, D.C.
in October 2009.
Thorne was very active in the 2008 Obama presidential campaign
, serving on the Finance and Policy Committees, LGBT Leadership Council and African American Leadership Council. He resigned from the LGBT Council after a personal email flap criticizing the Clinton campaign
became public. Currently, Thorne is Senior Vice President of the NAACP. Prior to that, he was CEO of Brooklyn Child and Family Services, that provided comprehensive social services to children and families, including early care and education, Head Start and Early Head Start, mentoring programs, homeless services and housing.
Thorne founded Weekend Renewing America's Promise (WRAP), a nonpartisan training retreat, which brings together business and other leaders from around the globe to discuss important issues of the day.
Previously he served at Human Rights Campaign
and Human Rights Campaign Foundation the nation’s largest LBGT civil rights organization as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President.
Formerly, Thorne was Executive Director of New Jersey Head Start an association of all the Head Start programs in New Jersey serving over 19000 children and families. While at the NJHSA, he oversaw the implementation of Abbott v. Burke
, the New Jersey Supreme Court
decision that mandated parity in funding and Whole School Reform. Thorne had represented Head Start, the New Jersey NAACP State Conference and daycare centers in the Supreme Court Abbott v. Burke litigation while he served as Deputy Executive and Litigation Director at Passaic County Legal Aid Society. For its efforts, he and the agency recently won the first annual Lawyer as Problem Solver Award of the American Bar Association
. He is credited with securing billions of dollars in government funding for early childhood centers and Head Start program in low income communities throughout New Jersey
so that they could compete with wealthier school districts. He has testified before the US Congress Hearing on issues of the Census, Head Start and universal preschool funding.
Thorne worked at Goldman Sachs
(NY) as a member of SEO. He worked at Wachtel Lipton Rosen and Katz (NY) and then as an associate at Lowenstein Sandler Fisher Kohl and Boylan
, one of New Jersey’s largest firms, before heading off to work on United Nations
matters related to the Earth Summit including working in the Federated States of Micronesia
on External Affairs and serving as representative to the UN Convention on Climate Change
, UN Convention on Biological Diversity
, UN Convention of Population, UN Convention on Small Island Developing States, and the Law of the Sea Conference
.
He sits on the Executive Committee of the Yale Law School
, and the Yale Alumni Board of Governors. He sits on the National Board of Directors of GLAAD., where he chairs the GLAAD Media Awards
and is co-chair of the Fundraising Committee.
He served as a bundler for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and on the African American Leadership Council as well as LBGT Leadership Council for the 2007-2008 Obama campaign, First Vice President of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey, Development Chair of the North Star Fund, a board member of Barnert Hospital
, and New Jersey Childcare Advisory Council, among others.
He is the founder of Weekend Renewing America’s Promise (WRAP), the theme of which became that of the 2008 Democratic National Convention
in Denver, Colorado
. WRAP is a non-partisan training retreat connecting exceptional leaders (and their families) from diverse fields. The mission is to actively live history by bringing together leaders and their families from widely divergent interests, backgrounds and views, and creating a special environment where dynamic discussions, debates and conversations are fostered and where participant's reflections transcend ideologies, politics, economics and religion.
In 1998, Thorne and Passaic County Legal Aid Society received the first ever problem solver award from the American Bar Association
for excellence and creativity in representing the poor. His legal career as litigation director includes several high profile victories including against two major banks which resulted in a tenant owning the foreclosed property where he lived, where a victimized homeowner prevailed against a major contractor and received a significant monetary award, where a senior was awarded almost $400,000 in a consumer fraud case, and where low-income tenants at the Christopher Columbus Tenants won a victory against HUD
and the Housing Authority so that their housing projects would be cleaned up and security installed.
In 2000 he was awarded the Humanitarian of the year award from Head Start Region II for his legal advocacy in representing Head Start in Abbott v. Burke.
He is a Renaissance Weekend
participant.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
. See example of visit to Cracker Barrell He served as a surrogate on the 2008 Obama presidential campaign
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
and the Campaign's LGBT Leadership Council and the Finance and Policy Committees. He is the current Senior Vice President and Chief Communications and Development Officer.
Thorne helped argue Abbott v. Burke
Abbott District
Abbott districts are school districts in New Jersey that are provided remedies to ensure that their students receive public education in accordance with New Jersey’s state constitution. They were created in 1985 as a result of the first ruling of Abbott v. Burke, a case filed by the Education Law...
, the education case in the New Jersey Supreme Court
New Jersey Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776...
on behalf of Head Start and the NAACP, which the New York Times stated "may be the most significant education case since the Supreme Court's desegregation ruling nearly 50 years ago." He also serves on the Yale Board of Governors, and Yale Law School Executive Committee and is a spokesman for the US 2010 Census.
Early life
Thorne was born in GeorgetownGeorgetown, Guyana
Georgetown, estimated population 239,227 , is the capital and largest city of Guyana, located in the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at . The city serves...
, Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
on November 24, 1964 but spent his early years in Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, Bahamas attending St. Thomas Moore's Primary School, until he was 10 and then returned to Guyana where he attended St. Margaret's Primary School and then Queen's College
Queen's College, Guyana
Queen's College is the top secondary school in Guyana;Situated at the South-Easterly Junction of Camp Street and Thomas Lands. Alumni can enter the school through the National Grade Six Assessment and at the Lower 6th Form Level if the academic performance of the student at the Caribbean Secondary...
. His mother, who is of mixed India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n and Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
descent, met his father, who is mixed race – Black, Scottish, Indian and Chinese - while in Georgetown, Guyana. He immigrated to the United States in 1984.
He is the great grandson of Alfred Athiel Thorne ((A. A. Thorne) Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
August 14, 1871 - April 23, 1956), one of the first blacks to earn a masters degree from a British University (1892 BAA. of Durham
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
with honours; 1898, M.A., Durham) who founded the first high school (Middle School, Georgetown) for African boys and girls in 1892, and who was instrumental in having Queen's College
Queen's College, Guyana
Queen's College is the top secondary school in Guyana;Situated at the South-Easterly Junction of Camp Street and Thomas Lands. Alumni can enter the school through the National Grade Six Assessment and at the Lower 6th Form Level if the academic performance of the student at the Caribbean Secondary...
built and expanded in Camp Street in order that more Guyanese future leaders would be groomed. He helped with the early years of Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans...
in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
which purchased by the AME Church
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...
in 1863 and became the first college to be owned and operated by African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s. He helped found the League of Colored People and was principal architect behind the formation of the British Guiana Workers Union that helped lead the first anti-colonial and trade union movements in the Caribbean in late 1800 and early 1900s. A.A. Thorne served as Financial Representative and as a member of the Court of Policy, including serving on the 1905 conciliation team which met with the colonial Governor after the 1905 street protests in Georgetown.
Education
Maxim Thorne holds a bachelor's degreeBachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
with cum laude honors in economics and political science from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and a juris doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
. He received the David C. DeForest Senior Prize for Oratory & Rhetoric (1st Pl. 1989), Townsend Rhetoric Award for Graduating Senior (1st Pl. 1989), Chase F. Coggins Memorial Travel Fellow Award (to France, 1989), Henry James TenEyck Award for Oratory & Rhetoric (2nd Pl. 1988), Yale-Richter (Economics) Award (to UK, Kenya, 1988), Mellon (Soc. Sci.) Fellow (to Kenya, Stanford University, CA 1988)
Parker D. Buck & Schulyer B. Jackson Sophomore Prize (1st Pl. 1987), McGuire/Rockefeller Fellow in Soc. Sci. (to Caribbean, NH 1986). He was admitted to the Supreme Court of New Jersey and US District Court (DNJ), December 1992, Certified to NJ Supreme Court (satisfaction of R.1:26) in 1992 and served on the NJ Supreme Court Committee on Complementary Dispute Resolution 2004-2006.
Thorne attended Queens College in Georgetown, Guyana from 1976–1983, for secondary school where he was Head Prefect, and as Captain of the Debate Team awarded the Sir Lionel Luckoo Cup, as well as the Best All Round Student Award ("For that student who by force of example has done his utmost for the school").
Career
Thorne's career has focused on philanthropy and both corporate lawCorporate law
Corporate law is the study of how shareholders, directors, employees, creditors, and other stakeholders such as consumers, the community and the environment interact with one another. Corporate law is a part of a broader companies law...
and litigation, with a significant commitment to educational opportunity and social justice. He currently teaches Philanthropy at Yale University and blogs in the Business Section of the Huffington Post.
Thorne has led the NAACP's national fundraising and communications efforts during its Centennial Year and its National Corporate Headquarters on Bryant Park
Bryant Park
Bryant Park is a 9.603 acre privately managed public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan...
in New York City. He oversaw a $1,000,000 gift from Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
, the movie mogul, which is the single largest given ever given to a civil rights organization by an entertainer and the development of the NAACP's principal gifts and endowment. As Chief Development Officer he worked with AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
's CEO Randall Stephenson who chaired the NAACP's Centennial Corporate Campaign; in 2010 UPS
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
succeeded AT&T to Chair the NAACP Second Century Corporate Campaign. He introduced Julian Bond
Julian Bond
Horace Julian Bond , known as Julian Bond, is an American social activist and leader in the American civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 1960s, he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating...
and spoke at the National Equality March
National Equality March
The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C.. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...
on the National Mall
National Mall
The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in October 2009.
Thorne was very active in the 2008 Obama presidential campaign
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
, serving on the Finance and Policy Committees, LGBT Leadership Council and African American Leadership Council. He resigned from the LGBT Council after a personal email flap criticizing the Clinton campaign
Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2008
New York junior Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had expressed interest in the 2008 United States presidential election since at least October 2002, drawing media speculation on whether she would become a candidate. No woman has ever won the nomination of a major party in the...
became public. Currently, Thorne is Senior Vice President of the NAACP. Prior to that, he was CEO of Brooklyn Child and Family Services, that provided comprehensive social services to children and families, including early care and education, Head Start and Early Head Start, mentoring programs, homeless services and housing.
Thorne founded Weekend Renewing America's Promise (WRAP), a nonpartisan training retreat, which brings together business and other leaders from around the globe to discuss important issues of the day.
Previously he served at Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
and Human Rights Campaign Foundation the nation’s largest LBGT civil rights organization as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President.
Formerly, Thorne was Executive Director of New Jersey Head Start an association of all the Head Start programs in New Jersey serving over 19000 children and families. While at the NJHSA, he oversaw the implementation of Abbott v. Burke
Abbott District
Abbott districts are school districts in New Jersey that are provided remedies to ensure that their students receive public education in accordance with New Jersey’s state constitution. They were created in 1985 as a result of the first ruling of Abbott v. Burke, a case filed by the Education Law...
, the New Jersey Supreme Court
New Jersey Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776...
decision that mandated parity in funding and Whole School Reform. Thorne had represented Head Start, the New Jersey NAACP State Conference and daycare centers in the Supreme Court Abbott v. Burke litigation while he served as Deputy Executive and Litigation Director at Passaic County Legal Aid Society. For its efforts, he and the agency recently won the first annual Lawyer as Problem Solver Award of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
. He is credited with securing billions of dollars in government funding for early childhood centers and Head Start program in low income communities throughout New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
so that they could compete with wealthier school districts. He has testified before the US Congress Hearing on issues of the Census, Head Start and universal preschool funding.
Thorne worked at Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
(NY) as a member of SEO. He worked at Wachtel Lipton Rosen and Katz (NY) and then as an associate at Lowenstein Sandler Fisher Kohl and Boylan
Lowenstein Sandler
Lowenstein Sandler is an AmLaw 200 corporate law firm with offices in New York, Palo Alto and Roseland, NJ. In 2007, the firm was ranked 157th largest in the United States in terms of attorney headcount by the National Law Journal, and 84th in profit per attorney by the AmLaw 200 survey. Many...
, one of New Jersey’s largest firms, before heading off to work on United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
matters related to the Earth Summit including working in the Federated States of Micronesia
Federated States of Micronesia
The Federated States of Micronesia or FSM is an independent, sovereign island nation, made up of four states from west to east: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae. It comprises approximately 607 islands with c...
on External Affairs and serving as representative to the UN Convention on Climate Change
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...
, UN Convention on Biological Diversity
Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...
, UN Convention of Population, UN Convention on Small Island Developing States, and the Law of the Sea Conference
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty, is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea , which took place from 1973 through 1982...
.
He sits on the Executive Committee of the Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
, and the Yale Alumni Board of Governors. He sits on the National Board of Directors of GLAAD., where he chairs the GLAAD Media Awards
GLAAD Media Awards
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives...
and is co-chair of the Fundraising Committee.
He served as a bundler for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and on the African American Leadership Council as well as LBGT Leadership Council for the 2007-2008 Obama campaign, First Vice President of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey, Development Chair of the North Star Fund, a board member of Barnert Hospital
Barnert Hospital
Barnert Hospital was a 236-bed hospital located on Broadway in the Eastside section of Paterson, New Jersey that operated for 99 years. The hospital was named for Nathan Barnert, a philanthropist and former mayor of Paterson who founded the hospital.The hospital was a full service facility offering...
, and New Jersey Childcare Advisory Council, among others.
He is the founder of Weekend Renewing America’s Promise (WRAP), the theme of which became that of the 2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...
in Denver, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. WRAP is a non-partisan training retreat connecting exceptional leaders (and their families) from diverse fields. The mission is to actively live history by bringing together leaders and their families from widely divergent interests, backgrounds and views, and creating a special environment where dynamic discussions, debates and conversations are fostered and where participant's reflections transcend ideologies, politics, economics and religion.
In 1998, Thorne and Passaic County Legal Aid Society received the first ever problem solver award from the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
for excellence and creativity in representing the poor. His legal career as litigation director includes several high profile victories including against two major banks which resulted in a tenant owning the foreclosed property where he lived, where a victimized homeowner prevailed against a major contractor and received a significant monetary award, where a senior was awarded almost $400,000 in a consumer fraud case, and where low-income tenants at the Christopher Columbus Tenants won a victory against HUD
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...
and the Housing Authority so that their housing projects would be cleaned up and security installed.
In 2000 he was awarded the Humanitarian of the year award from Head Start Region II for his legal advocacy in representing Head Start in Abbott v. Burke.
He is a Renaissance Weekend
Renaissance Weekend
Renaissance Weekend is an American retreat for leaders in business and finance, government, the media, religion, medicine, science, technology and the arts. Conversations are off the record and subject matter ranges widely, tending to focus heavily on policy and business issues.-History:Founded in...
participant.
External links
- Essay: New Political and Legal Strategies for African-Americans: Dreaming Big, Dreaming Creatively
- Interview with Mildred Bond Roxborough for NPR's StoryCorps
- Maxim Thorne speaking at In the Life TV Gala awards October 15, 2009 and later receiving award on Julian Bond's behalf
- Maxim Thorne speaking at National Equality March on Washington on October 11, 2009, Introducing Julian Bond
- Maxim Thorne speaking at the National Equality March on Washington, October 11, 2009
- Maxim Thorne presides over Yale's Afro-American Cultural Center's 40th Anniversary Gala in New Haven 2009
- Yale Daily News article on Maxim Thorne presiding over the Yale Afro-American Cultural Center 2009 Gala
- Maxim Thorne guest speaker on Politics and Activism as Yale University First LGBT Reunion, April 25, 2009
- Maxim Thorne, testifying before the US Congress's LGBT Equality Caucus on the Census, Co-Chaired by Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Barney Frank (D-MA), and Jared Polis (D-CO), April 1, 2010