Ms Pontsho Maruping

Ms Pontsho Maruping was appointed the Managing Director of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRF-SARAO) in October 2022. She currently serves as the acting Deputy CEO: National Research Infrastructure Platforms. 

Ms Maruping’s career spans both the private and public sectors at the executive level. In her capacity as Managing Director SARAO, a facility of the National Research Foundation. she 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 the NRF, 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).