diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5e438b15c..6f84f8170 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# this file contains information that we don't want to further surface for
+# scraping but do generate locally
+maintainers.txt
+
 # OSX leaves these everywhere on SMB shares
 ._*
 
diff --git a/generator/README.md b/generator/README.md
index d79980ece..381c487c3 100644
--- a/generator/README.md
+++ b/generator/README.md
@@ -84,6 +84,19 @@ for i in $(ls -1 generator/generated/*.md); do gh issue create --repo kubernetes
  You may run into rate limiting issues, which is why this command removes the
  files after an issue has been successfully created.
 
+<!--TODO: we probably won't need maintainers.txt longterm-->
+To generate the maintainers.txt file for updating with the CNCF re:
+https://github.com/kubernetes/steering/issues/281
+
+```bash
+make MAINTAINERS_LIST=true
+```
+
+This will generate an untracked (not saved in git) maintainers.txt file with a 
+table in the format requested by the CNCF.
+Most contributors will never need to do this.
+For more details see the linked steering issue.
+<!--END-TODO: we probably won't need maintainers.txt longterm-->
 
 ## Adding custom content
 
diff --git a/generator/app.go b/generator/app.go
index 3b2eb8c1d..cdb8c4394 100644
--- a/generator/app.go
+++ b/generator/app.go
@@ -1100,6 +1100,58 @@ func prepForAnnualReportGeneration() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func generateCNCFMaintainersList(ctx *Context) error {
+	maintainers := map[string]Person{}
+	serviceDesk := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, group := range ctx.Committees {
+		if group.Name == "Steering" {
+			for _, member := range group.Leadership.Chairs {
+				maintainers[member.GitHub] = member
+				serviceDesk[member.GitHub] = true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	for _, sig := range ctx.Sigs {
+		// these groups retain service desk access in addition to steering
+		// as outlined in https://github.com/kubernetes/steering/issues/281
+		isServiceDesk := sig.Name == "Contributor Experience" || sig.Name == "K8s Infra" || sig.Name == "Release"
+		for _, chair := range sig.Leadership.Chairs {
+			maintainers[chair.GitHub] = chair
+			// only set service desk true as needed, do not override to false
+			// in case of maintainers spanning groups
+			if isServiceDesk {
+				serviceDesk[chair.Name] = true
+			}
+		}
+		for _, tl := range sig.Leadership.TechnicalLeads {
+			maintainers[tl.GitHub] = tl
+			// only set service desk true as needed, do not override to false
+			// in case of maintainers spanning groups
+			if isServiceDesk {
+				serviceDesk[tl.Name] = true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	outputPath := filepath.Join(baseGeneratorDir, "maintainers.txt")
+	f, err := os.Create(outputPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	fmt.Fprintln(f, "name | company | github | email | service-desk?")
+	fmt.Fprintln(f, "===============================================")
+	keys := []string{}
+	for gh := range maintainers {
+		keys = append(keys, gh)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(keys)
+	for _, gh := range keys {
+		m := maintainers[gh]
+		fmt.Fprintf(f, "%s | %s | %s | %s | %t\n", m.Name, m.Company, m.GitHub, m.Email, serviceDesk[m.GitHub])
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func main() {
 	yamlPath := filepath.Join(baseGeneratorDir, sigsYamlFile)
 	var ctx Context
@@ -1153,6 +1205,11 @@ func main() {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if envVal, ok := os.LookupEnv("MAINTAINERS_LIST"); ok && envVal == "true" {
+		fmt.Println("Generating CNCF maintainers list")
+		generateCNCFMaintainersList(&ctx)
+	}
+
 	fmt.Println("Generating sig-list.md")
 	outputPath := filepath.Join(baseGeneratorDir, sigListOutput)
 	err = writeTemplate(filepath.Join(baseGeneratorDir, templateDir, listTemplate), outputPath, "markdown", ctx)