Ms Pontsho Maruping – Managing Director

SARAO Managing Director

Ms Pontsho Maruping was appointed SARAO Managing Director effective from 01 October 2022. She directs and manages SARAO in all its dimensions, including MeerKAT and Hartebeesthoek operations, and leads fulfilment of South Africa’s obligations as a host country for the SKA, and upholds SARAO integration as a business unit of the NRF.

Ms Maruping’s career spans both the private and public sectors at the executive level. She is the Managing Director of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), a facility of the National Research Foundation. SARAO is responsible for managing all radio astronomy initiatives and facilities in South Africa, including the MeerKAT Radio Telescope in the Karoo and the Geodesy and VLBI activities at the HartRAO facility.  

Maruping serves on the board of Mintek and as a Trustee on the NRF Pension Fund. She is also the former chairperson of the South African Council for Space Affairs (2016-2023), an agency responsible for regulating space activities in South Africa, and the former chair of the Science and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (2018-2020).  

Prior to joining SARAO, she was an executive at the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) responsible for Innovation Funding and Pre-commercialisation Support. Her other previous roles include CEO of the Mine Health and Safety Council and Chief Director for space science and technology at the Department of Science and Technology, where she spearheaded the establishment of the South African National Space Agency.  

Her educational qualifications include an Executive Masters in Business Administration (IMD,  Switzerland), Masters in Space Systems Engineering (TUDelft, Netherlands), Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) in Management of Technology (University of Pretoria, South Africa); and Bachelor of Science (Eng.) in Mineral Processing (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa).  

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