IT leader scoops industry awards
- Wits University
It’s a season of abundance for Dr Stanley Mpofu, who has been named CIO of the Year by industry peers, among other accolades.
Mpofu scooped several accolades at different industry awards recognising outstanding contributions to the industry and respective organisations.
Wits’ Chief Information Officer was crowned CIO of the Year at the 2024 CIO Awards – known as the “Oscars of IT”. The awards on 12 November brought together captains of various industries who are at the heart of the country’s economies. The 2023 CIO of the Year was Jörg Fischer from Standard Bank.
At the same awards Mpofu also walked away with the IT Project of the Year award for his leadership in successfully deploying pivotal initiatives at Wits. A month prior to this, the tech leader made his mark at the ITWeb Brainstorm Banquet for clinching the Decade of CIO Award in the public sector category.
Mpofu credited his team and the support from the University’s executives for the support.
Supporting academic dreams at Wits and beyond
Witsies are familiar with the many projects executed by ICT, however, his service to the higher education sector is less visible.
He is the Chair of Higher Education Information Technology South Africa (HEITSA) representing the 26 public universities in South Africa. HEITSA provides mutual support mechanisms to all participating institutions by encouraging the development and application of standards and best practices through the sharing of expertise among the community. Mpofu was instrumental in the rollout of Eduroam (education roaming) across all 26 universities by encouraging adoption following successful implementation at Wits.
Eduroam is a secure, world-wide roaming access service developed by the international research and education community. It allows students, researchers, and staff from participating institutions to obtain Wi-Fi access and Internet connectivity at participating service providers simply, securely, and free-of-charge. Roaming is available in over hundred countries worldwide, a growing number of which are in Africa.
Access is available at airports managed by Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA). This will soon extend to CoJ for libraries and Attacq for malls bringing convenience for the secure.
In 2025 Wits ICT will continue rolling out connectivity at Wits linked academic hospitals and Sterkfontein caves as well as the network remediation to bring greater stability to the network against the growing demands.
A cattle herd boy turned into an IT leader
Mpofu has been working in IT since 1995. He rose through the ranks and was appointed Network Administrator in Datavia at Transnet for 10 years. A career change took him to Eskom, where in 15 years he held positions as a project manager, programme manager and Project Office manager. His time at Eskom culminated in a promotion to executive manager in 2010. In this executive role he was responsible for all Eskom Enterprises Group of Companies ICT strategy and operations. He also chaired the tender committee. He joined Wits in May 2017 as CIO, almost ten years after completing his PhD from the same University.
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