diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 3b1d78dcfa9..3781d09e6e3 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ This is a rough outline of what a contributor's workflow looks like:
 - Make sure commit messages are in the proper format (see below).
 - Push changes in a topic branch to a personal fork of the repository.
 - Submit a pull request to etcd-io/etcd.
-- The PR must receive a LGTM from two maintainers found in the MAINTAINERS file.
+- The PR must receive a LGTM from two maintainers found in the OWNERS file.
 
 Thanks for contributing!
 
diff --git a/GOVERNANCE.md b/GOVERNANCE.md
index a0a6a290e56..dbd686e3952 100644
--- a/GOVERNANCE.md
+++ b/GOVERNANCE.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ please see [CONTRIBUTING](./CONTRIBUTING.md) guide.
 
 ## Maintainers
 
-[Maintainers](./MAINTAINERS) are first and foremost contributors that have shown they
+[Maintainers](./OWNERS) are first and foremost contributors that have shown they
 are committed to the long term success of a project. Maintainership is about building
 trust with the current maintainers of the project and being a person that they can
 depend on to make decisions in the best interest of the project in a consistent manner.
@@ -48,12 +48,12 @@ of the maintainers and moved to emeritus status.
 Life priorities, interests, and passions can change. If a maintainer needs to step
 down, inform other maintainers about this intention, and if possible, help find someone
 to pick up the related work. At the very least, ensure the related work can be continued.
-Afterward, create a pull request to remove yourself from the [MAINTAINERS](./MAINTAINERS)
+Afterward, create a pull request to remove yourself from the [MAINTAINERS](./OWNERS)
 file.
 
 ## Reviewers
 
-[Reviewers](./MAINTAINERS) are contributors who have demonstrated greater skill in
+[Reviewers](./OWNERS) are contributors who have demonstrated greater skill in
 reviewing the code contribution from other contributors. Their LGTM counts towards
 merging a code change into the project. A reviewer is generally on the ladder towards
 maintainership. New reviewers must be nominated by an existing maintainer and must be
diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
deleted file mode 100644
index ecf320ad39e..00000000000
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-# The official list of maintainers and reviewers for the project maintenance.
-#
-# Refer to the GOVERNANCE.md for description of the roles.
-#
-# Names should be added to this file like so:
-#     Individual's name <submission email address> (@GITHUB_HANDLE) pkg:*
-#     Individual's name <submission email address> <email2> <emailN> (@GITHUB_HANDLE) pkg:*
-#
-# Please keep the list sorted.
-
-# MAINTAINERS
-Brandon Philips <brandon@ifup.org> (@philips) pkg:*
-Gyuho Lee <gyuhox@gmail.com> <leegyuho@amazon.com> (@gyuho) pkg:*
-Hitoshi Mitake <h.mitake@gmail.com> (@mitake) pkg:*
-Jingyi Hu <jingyih@google.com> (@jingyih) pkg:*
-Joe Betz <jpbetz@google.com> (@jpbetz) pkg:*
-Piotr Tabor <ptab@google.com> (@ptabor) pkg:*
-Sahdev Zala <spzala@us.ibm.com> (@spzala) pkg:*
-Sam Batschelet <sbatsche@redhat.com> (@hexfusion) pkg:*
-Wenjia Zhang <wenjiazhang@google.com> (@wenjiaswe) pkg:*
-Xiang Li <xiangli.cs@gmail.com> (@xiang90) pkg:*
-
-Ben Darnell <ben@cockroachlabs.com> (@bdarnell) pkg:go.etcd.io/etcd/raft
-Tobias Grieger <tobias.schottdorf@gmail.com> (@tbg) pkg:go.etcd.io/etcd/raft