Professor John Apuruot Akec is the appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors at the National Communication Authority of South Sudan since June 2021. He has also been the Vice Chancellor of the University of Juba since March 2014. He was appointed founding Vice Chancellor of the University of Northern Bahr El-Ghazal in Aweil, South Sudan, in May 2010, prior to joining NCA.

Prof. Akec is currently a member of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture's Administration and Finance Committee (RUFORUM). He was previously a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers (UK), the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the IEEE Computer Society, and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). He also worked as a freelance analyst for Juniper Research Limited in the African Mobile Phone Market (2006).

In the year 2000, Prof. Akec received a Doctorate in Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. In 1992, he earned a Master’s of Science in Systems Engineering from the University of Wales College of Cardiff (UK), with a focus in robotics and automation. In 1985, he received a B.Sc. (Hon.) in Applied Physics and Electronics from the University of Gezira.

Prof. Akec generally writes about the social and political environment in Sudan, and South Sudan in particular, outside of the academic community. He contributes regularly to Sudan Tribune online and Citizen Newspaper