Greg Olsen is the Director of the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA), where he oversees the agency’s day-to-day operations and the administration of federal and state-funded programs designed to assist the more than 5 million older adult residents in the state, as well as programs that assist family members and others involved with helping older adults needing greater levels of assistance.
NYSOFA assists older New Yorkers to be as independent as possible, for as long as possible, through advocacy and the development and delivery of programs and services that support and empower older New Yorkers and their families, in partnership with the network of public and private organizations that serve them. Greg has served in a variety of executive management positions within the agency and has led the agency for 16 years. Greg is a national leader in promoting and providing innovative solutions that are serving more than 2 million more older adults at no cost to themselves and has also led the fight in combating ageism and stereotypes that paint older adults in a negative light. His anti-ageism effort has involved aggregating data on older adults' economic, social and intellectual capital.
Prior to joining NYSOFA, he served as legislative and policy director for Assemblyman Steve Englebright, former chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Aging.
Greg Olsen was executive director of the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans, a union supported organization representing 660,000 union retirees. He also served as executive director of the New York State Coalition for the Aging, a nonprofit membership organization representing over 200 community-based organizations providing non-medical long-term care to the state’s older adult population. He also worked in promoting federal feeding programs for older New Yorkers.
He received his master’s degree in social work with a specialty in gerontology from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School.