Max Gillman serves as Hayek Professor of Economic History at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. He currently serves as Associate Editor for Economic Modelling, part time Research Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest and Senior Researcher at European Research University (ERUNI), a Research Associate at CERGE-EI, Prague, and at CERS-EI, Budapest, and was in 2024-2025 a Visiting Professor at the National Bank of Slovakia,. Previously he served as full professor at Cardiff Business School, UK, and at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, where he also served as visiting professor at CEU until 2020. Recent past positions include Senior Fellow at the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies, visiting professor at the Bank of Finland, and earlier visiting positions include the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Loughborough University, UK, New York University, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, The University of Chicago, International Monetary Fund, Monash University, and Melbourne University. Teaching monetary economics and macroeconomics, he has published over 50 research articles in Economics journals, focusing on inflation, financial intermediation, monetary policy, real business cycles, public finance, oil prices, economic growth, development and human capital. Gillman has published four books: The Spectre of Inflation (Columbia U Press, 2023); Principles of Macroeconomics: an Evolutionary Approach (KendallHunt, 2017); Advanced Modern Macroeconomics: Analysis and Application (Pearson, 2011); Inflation Theory in Economics: Welfare, Velocity, Growth and Business Cycles (Routledge, 2009) ; and is Editor of Collected Papers in Monetary Theory, by Robert E. Lucas, Jr. (Harvard U Press, 2013).

He received his BA, MA, and PhD from Istanbul University's Faculty of Economics. He has held faculty and administrative positions at Kırıkkale University, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Sarajevo University International University, Turkish Aeronautical Association University, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, and Istanbul University. He has served as an assistant specialist at the Prime Ministry Family Research Institution, Vice President at the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, Vice President at the Competition Authority, Vice President at ÖSYM, and chair and member of various boards and commissions within the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). He is the team leader of the Turkey Referencing Report, which references Turkey's general, vocational, and academic education systems with European frameworks. His primary interests include the reform of the financial system and economic development, social policy, poverty, and the higher education system. Currently, Toprak is a faculty member at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University and President of the Istanbul Social Enterprise Association.