Dame Elan Closs Stephens was appointed Friday as acting chairwoman of the BBC, following Richard Sharp’s resignation in late April.
Stephens will lead the BBC board starting June 27 for 12 months, or until a new permanent chair is named.
She’s been a member of the public service broadcaster’s governing body since 2010, and served as the member for Wales when it was the BBC Trust, the BBC said in a statement. More recently she has been the chairwoman of the BBC Bord’s Wales committee. From 2019 to 2022, Stephens also served as chairwoman of the BBC’s commercial subsidiary.
Stephens is a professor emerita of communications and creative industries in the Department of Theatre Film and Television at the Aberystwyth University in Wales. She is now the Pro-Chancellor.
Stephens called the new role “a huge honor,” Stephens said in a statement. “I am grateful to my fellow board members for putting their trust in me,” she said.
“As a board, we will champion the license 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,” she said in a statement. “There is much work to be done.”
UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, who named Stephens to the post, said she had the “the unanimous support of the board” and “would provide stability in the leadership of the BBC.”
Sharp resigned just over a month ago following an investigation which found failed to disclose his role in a roughly $1 million guarantee to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson weeks before becoming BBC chair.
