Dr Phethiwe Matutu is USAf’s Chief Executive Officer, effective from 1 October 2022.
For the immediate past five years, she was the Group Executive: Strategy, Planning and Partnerships at the National Research Foundation (NRF) where she has overseen the successful creation of the Strategy, Planning and Partnerships Division. Some of her successes at the NRF include driving the formulation of the organisational strategy, the NRF Vision 2030. She also led the conceptualisation of a Research and Development Information Platform for R&D data for the National System of Innovation. She oversaw the management of key strategic partnerships that were instrumental in leveraging knowledge, human, and financial resources from partners.
At the former Department of Science and Technology, Dr Matutu’s was a Chief director: Human Capital and Science Promotion. She was instrumental in attracting substantive funds for postgraduate studies and research grants. During this period, the science system saw a remarkable growth of flagship programmes such as the South African Research Chairs Initiative and Centres of Excellence. She successfully led the development of strategic documents in research priority areas of Government, science promotion, and human capacity development leading to transformative change and maximising research impact.
A mathematician by discipline, who obtained her PhD in Mathematics at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Dr Matutu’s career was launched in academia, where she focused her teaching on making Mathematics accessible, particularly to the previously marginalised groups. She taught at a number of institutions including UCT, University of Stellenbosch, and Rhodes University, where she was a senior lecturer.
Dr Matutu has served as a member of numerous Boards, Councils and Task Teams. She served in the Human Resource Development Council of South Africa (HRDC-SA) under the leadership of the Deputy President of South Africa (Mr Ramaphosa), was a Ministerial appointee (Minister Pandor) in the Council of Walter Sisulu University, was a member of a Ministerial Task Team responsible for drafting the Implementation Plan of the White Paper on Post-School Education and Training; was a member of the Department of Higher Education and Training Creative Outputs Reviews Panel, and serves in the Advisory Board of National Graduate Academy of Mathematics and Statistics, and a Board member of Higher Health. She has also served in various international committees, including the SA-USA Fulbright Commission and the Steering Committee of the French South African Technical Institute in Electronics.
The underlying intent of her experience and activities have been to advance the transformation agenda and impact within the higher education sector.