Dr. Joe Anokye

Dr. Joe Anokye was appointed the Director General of the National Communications Authority on 24th January 2017. He is a Technology Executive well-versed in a wide range of Telecommunication Operations Management, Telecommunication Networks, National Security, and Cyber Security platforms in both public and private sectors. As a talented and accomplished Technology Executive, he has over twenty-nine (29) years of hands-on technical and management experience with a proven ability to successfully direct and manage major and key information technology, telecommunications, and technology support services operations from inception to completion.

Between 1994 through 1997, Dr. Anokye worked as Sr. Network Engineer at the United States Postal Service (USPS) Headquarters, Washington DC. His team of network engineers designed, installed, and maintained the USPS Wide Area Network and Local Area Network.

Beginning September 1997, when he was employed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), through the end of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program in July 2011, Dr. Anokye supported forty-nine (49) Space Shuttle Missions: from the 87th mission (STS-86) in September 1997, to the 135th mission (STS-135) which was last Space Shuttle mission in July 2011. His team, the NASA (Ground) Communications System (NASCOM) was the central nervous system that managed the terrestrial communications between ground stations, mission control centers, and other elements of spacecraft ground segments. Established in 1964, NASCOM also interfaced with the Deep Space Network (DSN), and provided worldwide, near real-time, transmission of commands, telemetry, voice, and television signals. NASCOM managed the NASA Global Mission Telecommunication Wide Area Network out of Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

As a Network engineering service manager at NASCOM, Dr. Anokye worked collaboratively in many network installations and troubleshooting exercises worldwide with Telecom and Network engineers from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), German Space Operations Centre (GSOC), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO – Dongara) and many other national and international Space Programs like the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in California and the International Space Station (ISS).

Dr. Anokye received the employee of the year award in the year 2007 from the NASA Information Technology Services (UNITeS) contract at Marshal Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville – Alabama, for outstanding technical services to the NASA Mission Telecommunications Network.

Dr. Anokye worked at NASA GSFC until January 2016 when he returned to Ghana.

Dr. Anokye was a premier Cisco Technical Instructor from the year 1999 through 2016 in the Washington D.C, USA Metropolitan Area. Having attained Cisco Certified Internetwork Engineer Number 6642 (CCIE #6624) in the year 2000, he taught and mentored many Telecommunications, Network, and Systems engineers. Many of his trained network engineering professionals work with Government, Security and Civilian Agencies, State and local Governments, telecommunications companies (Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, etc), Banks, financial institutions, regulatory and compliance and many more.

In November 2023, he delivered three (3) lectures at the 12th R.P. Baafour Memorial Lectures at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. The lecture series, established in honour of the first Vice Chancellor of KNUST, was held under the theme, “KNUST After 70: A New Age for a Renewed Focus in an Era of Disruptive Technologies”. To climax the Lectures, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (DSc. Honoris causa) at a special congregation on 24th November, 2023, in recognition of his significant contributions to Ghana’s Telecommunication Industry and his insightful presentation as the speaker of the 12th edition of the Lecture.

Dr. Anokye holds BSC Geodetic Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from University of Maryland University College, College Park, MD USA. He was awarded a Certificate for Senior Executives in National and International Security by Harvard Kennedy School, Executive Education, USA.