Stephens was born on 16 June 1948 at
Talysarn in the
Nantlle Valley,
Gwynedd, to William Jones Roberts and Mair Closs. She attended the
Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle Secondary school before studying English at
Somerville College, Oxford. renewed for a second term until 2006. She was a
Governor of the
British Film Institute until 2007, chairing its Audit and Governance during the refurbishment of the
Southbank Centre National Film Theatre. Chairwoman of the Wales Advisory Committee to the
British Council until 2011, she was a board member of the Film Agency for Wales and a
Trustee of
Arts & Business. overseeing CEOs of the Welsh Government
arm's-length public bodies. In 2019, she was appointed
Professor Emerita of Communications and Creative Industries at Aberystwyth's Department of Theatre, Film and Television, and
Pro-Chancellor of the university.
BBC As a member of the Welsh Assembly Government's
Strategic Delivery Performance Board, she was appointed, in October 2010, to the
BBC Trust, and, in 2017, was reappointed as member for Wales on the new
BBC Board. Stephens served as
Chair of the BBC between 27 June 2023 and 4 March 2024. On 2 July 2024, when interviewed by
Welsh-language radio program ''
Beti a'i Phobol'', she thanked newsreader
Huw Edwards for his "huge contribution" to the BBC and "all the skills he has demonstrated." After Edwards' arrest and
guilty plea to charges related to
child pornography, she issued, in August 2024, a statement in which she expressed her "shock" at the "revelations from the court." The same week,
BBC director general Tim Davie publicly defended the corporation's handling of the case. ==Awards and accolades==