Acting Chair of the BBC appointed

The UK Government has today confirmed Professor Dame Elan Closs Stephens as the Acting Chair of the BBC.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer made the appointment following consultation with the BBC Board, in line with the terms of the BBC’s Royal Charter.

Dame Elan will replace Richard Sharp who will step down on 27 June.

Dame Elan has been a non-executive director on the BBC Board since July 2017, and prior to that was the Trustee for Wales on the BBC Trust (2010 – 2017). Between 2019 and 2022, she was Chair of the Commercial Holdings Board for BBC Studios. Under the BBC’s Charter an Acting Chair must be an existing non-executive director on the BBC Board.

Dame Elan says: “It’s a huge honour to be appointed by the Secretary of State as Acting Chair and I am grateful to my fellow Board Members for putting their trust in me. As a Board, we will champion the licence fee payer across all of the UK; ensure the BBC is a vital partner for the UK creative industries; maintain trust and drive change to make the BBC fit for a fast changing media landscape. There is much work to be done.”

Dame Elan is an experienced chair and non-executive, with a distinguished career in broadcasting, the creative industries and academia. She is a former Chair of the Welsh-language broadcaster, S4C, and is currently the Pro-Chancellor and Professor Emerita in Communications and Creative Industries at Aberystwyth University. She is the Electoral Commissioner for Wales.

Dame Elan will remain in post as Acting Chair while the UK Government undertakes the process to appoint a new, permanent BBC Chair; this process is expected to take several months.

The BBC Board says: “Elan has been an active and distinguished member of the BBC Board who has brought huge energy and drive to her role as Member for Wales. We are delighted that she is taking up the role as Acting Chair; she is the ideal choice.”

Dame Elan Closs Stephens Biography

Professor Dame Elan Closs Stephens is an experienced chair and non-executive director who has spent a career in broadcasting, the creative industries and academia. Dame Elan is currently the Pro Chancellor and Professor Emerita in Communications and Creative Industries at Aberystwyth University. She is the Electoral Commissioner for Wales and Member of the UK Electoral Commission Board. She is the Chair of the Wales Public Leaders’ Forum and Chair of the UNESCO International Prize for contribution to the creative economy.

Dame Elan has been a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Professor of the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University, where she is now the Pro-Chancellor. She was educated at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle, a comprehensive school in the quarry valleys of North Wales and won an open scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford. She has been awarded nine Honorary Doctorates and Fellowships including from Welsh universities, the Open University, and Somerville College, Oxford. She was High Sheriff of Dyfed 2011–12 and now serves as a Deputy Lieutenant.

Dame Elan has been a member of the BBC’s governing body since 2010, first serving as Member for Wales on the BBC Trust, until its dissolution in 2017, and then as the Welsh member of the BBC Board. As a BBC Board member she has been the Chair of the Wales Committee and also served as Chair of the BBC’s commercial subsidiary from 2019 – 2022. She served for two terms as Chair of the Welsh-language broadcaster, S4C between 1998 – 2006 and subsequently served an additional term as non-executive director on S4C, representing the BBC Trust.

She has served on many cultural bodies including the British Film Institute (BFI) and the British Council. She still serves the BFI as a Non-Executive Director of the IMAX Cinema in Waterloo. She has been a member of the Wales Permanent Secretary’s Board where she was Chair of Corporate Governance. She has served as Vice Chairman of the Welsh Language Board and is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

Dame Elan is a native Welsh speaker and lives in Aberystwyth; she has two children.

[Source: BBC Press Office]