Elizabeth Gaynes stepped down as CEO and President of the Osborne Association in 2022, after a 38-year career at the helm of the 90-year old New York nonprofit organization committed to transforming prisons for the people who live in them, visit them, and work in them. During her tenure, Osborne grew from three people to more than 350, establishing educational, treatment, workforce, and family services in New York City, Newburgh, Buffalo, and in more than 25 prisons and jails. Under her leadership, Osborne acquired the former Fulton Correctional Facility to redevelop as a community reentry center for older adults leaving state prison. Ms. Gaynes has visited dozens of jails and prisons in six countries, as well as state and federal prisons in the US -- as an attorney, a service provider, and a family member. She served on the NY Governor’s Prison Redevelopment Commission, studying the potential for re-use for the state’s closed prisons. She began her career as a criminal defense attorney in Buffalo, NY, following the Attica uprising, and served as a staff attorney for Prisoners Legal Services of New York in Albany, NY. After leaving Osborne, she became a Senior Fellow at the New York Women’s Foundation, and in May 2024 was appointed as a Commissioner at the New York State Commission of Correction, an oversight agency charged with ensuring a safe, stable and humane correctional system.

Along with her daughter, Ms. Gaynes was the first person from the global North nominated for the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child for their work on behalf of children affected by parental incarceration, and was named a Champion of Change for Children of Incarcerated Parents by the Obama White House. 

Elizabeth Gaynes holds a B.A. from Syracuse University, and a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law.