Howard Reader was born in South Africa and had most of his schooling in Zimbabwe. He studied Electronic Engineering in the UK and spent thirty years in academia in South Africa. During that time, he spent stimulating sabbaticals at the European Space Agency in the Netherlands and later at the National Institute for Standards and Technology in Colorado, USA.

After taking early retirement from Stellenbosch University in 2014, where he remains an Emeritus Professor, he moved to Austria to work at Omicron, a creative engineering company operating in the power utility industry. The company operates worldwide and provides some of the high-end measurement equipment to players in the power industry.

Due to long-standing development interests in South Africa’s contribution to the Square Kilometre Array activities, Howard continues limited consultation on work concerning interference reduction in radio telescope operations.

On a personal level, he is married with three children who work in South Africa and England. Howard is a keen tennis player and, along with his wife Ursula, enjoys summer hiking and biking, and winter skiing, in the Alps of Austria.