Elizabeth Guernsey is Chief of Staff for Open Society – U.S., serving as an advisor to the Executive Director, managing priorities of the Senior Leadership Team, and helping to foster collaboration across OSUS. She supports OSUS’s strategy and budget priorities, most recently on the women’s power building investments and pro-democracy strategy. Previously, she served as a Senior Program Officer in OSUS, overseeing a portfolio of work focused on progressive governance, which included strategies on developing leadership pipelines, moving progressive policies throughout the country, and defending local democracy from state preemption tactics. She also leads the Leadership in Government Fellowship program.

Prior to joining OSF, she served in New York City government, most recently serving as the Director of Policy and Operations at the Department of Housing Preservation & Development, the largest municipal housing agency in the country. Elizabeth began her career at the Urban Institute where she conducted research on public housing and neighborhood change. She holds a Master of Urban Planning from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, where she was a David Bohnett Public Service Fellow, and a B.A. in Economics and Public Policy from Trinity College (Hartford, CT). She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.