Max Christoff

Max Christoff is senior director of engineering for Chrome at Google and a utilitarian at heart who enjoys applying cutting edge technology to solve practical, everyday problems in complex ecosystems. Prior to leading the engineering team for a popular web browser, he helped to start Google Wallet (aka Google Pay) to make it possible to tap your phone to pay for things, ride the subway, and board the plane. He also worked as a software engineer, team lead, executive director, vice president, and CTO at Morgan Stanley, a webmaster at MTV, and lecturer of ancient Greek teaching Homeric epic at Princeton. He earned his M.A. in classics and ancient linguistics at Princeton University and B.A. from Columbia University. He lives in Berkeley with his wife Emily Mackil, professor of history at UC Berkeley, two children (one currently at Black Pine Circle and the other a recent alumnus), and two cats. When not puzzling out technological and linguistic challenges, Max enjoys scuba diving, photography, literature, and playing a variety of musical instruments.