Marius Papenfus has spent more than 30 years working as an information and communications technologist, using his grounding in technology enablement to shape strategy and drive transformation across both government and the private sector. His career spans multiple industries and includes roles in enterprise architecture, programme management, service management, business leadership, and strategy development.
He currently serves as Head of Enterprise Data Management at the South African Revenue Service (SARS), where he is responsible for advancing the organisation’s data capability and governance.
Marius is deeply passionate about building high-performance teams and enabling tenfold improvement through disruptive modernisation initiatives. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Informatics and an MBA.
DataIQ asked: “How do you see the role of the data leader evolving over the next 12-24 months?”
“Data has become the most valuable resource in most modern organisations and gives impetus to the saying ‘knowledge is power.’ The Data leadership role will without doubt play a more prominent role to both unleash but also guard enterprise data as the most valuable resource to enable informed decision-making and even enable future directions organisations need to take to be successful.
“It is inconceivable to think that any senior leader will be successful without a solid grounding in data management, which includes data literacy and the ability to apply the concept of data storytelling. Data governance will be key in the broader context of corporate governance and will continue to cover aspects such as data acquisition, privacy, quality, consolidation and ethical use.”