2025 Impact NextGen Honoree: Max Gredinger

MAX GREDINGER
Partner
Foundations

OTTO THE ORANGE WOULD BE PROUD
One of five Syracuse alums on Laufey’s team.

Max Gredinger got his start in the music industry at 17 years old, developing a grassroots marketing plan for Mike Posner’s debut mixtape.

In the 16 years since, he’s used that talent and ambition — and the passion for music his dad instilled in him — to climb the ranks to partner at Foundations artist management, where his roster includes Laufey, rainbolt and Ricky Montgomery.

At 34 years old, he sees his particular generational cohort — one that came of age just as the world became more digital — as having a specific (and useful) insight.

“I was born in 1991, there’s something to be said for being the bubble digital generation. We both have the context of pre-social media, more analog upbringings, but are native to digital platforms, marketing, etc.,” he says.  “[That] could theoretically position us to analyze trends based on their perceived merits and not just that they’re ‘new’ and therefore ‘good.’”

As for current projects, he’s proud of the work done to launch The Laufey Foundation, dedicated to making music education accessible to young people across the world. In addition, he joined with other members of Laufey’s team on a $100,000 scholarship fund for international students to attend The Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industry.

Plus, Laufey headlined the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Phil and the film of the show hit the Top 10 at the box office.

Gredinger points to Foundations founder Steve Bursky as a mentor who taught him “tireless drive, striving to always ask the question ‘why,’ and to hold ethics above all else.”

Beyond his own clients, this year he raved about Noah Kahan at Glastonbury.

“Noah always strikes a chord, [it] has been a great privilege of my career cheering my partners and friends on from the sidelines during his meteoric rise,”  he says.

On his own journey to leadership, Gredinger keeps empathy front of mind.

“Empathy is the most powerful tool in collaboration and managing other people,” he says. “Part of that comes with being centered enough to remove your ego from the equation, be present, and both understand and take in the needs of others. I suspect that practice will be a lifelong journey, but in a decade from now I’ll be closer than I am now.”