Elan Closs Stephens

Who is Elan Closs Stephens?

Elan Closs Stephens CBE is a Welsh educator and civil servant, the Wales representative on the BBC Trust.

Born in Talysarn in the Nantlle Valley, Gwynedd, she was educated at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle and Somerville College, Oxford.

Stephens is Professor of Communications and Creative Industries at Aberystwyth University’s Department of Theatre Film and Television. She also acts as Director of Enterprise and Knowledge Transfer to enable research projects with industry partners.

In 1998, the Department for Culture Media and Sport appointed Stephens chair of the S4C Authority, which was renewed for s second term until 2006. She was a Governor of the British Film Institute until 2007, and Chair of its Audit and Governance during the refurbishment of the Southbank Centre National Film Theatre. She chairs the Wales Advisory Committee of the British Council, is a Board member of the Film Agency for Wales, and a Trustee/Board member of Arts & Business.

After chairing Chwarae Teg, a body that promotes the economic development of women in Wales, in 2009 she was appointed by the Welsh Assembly Government's Minister for Social Justice and Local Government to chair the Recovery Board for Isle of Anglesey County Council. In 2006, she chaired the Stephens Report on the financing and structure of the arts in Wales for the Welsh Assembly Government. A member of the Welsh Assembly Government's Strategic Delivery Performance Board, in October 2010 she was appointed a member for Wales of the BBC Trust.