Two new members have been appointed to the board of the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Stephen Dimmick and Rhodri Lewis will each serve a four-year term running from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2030.
Key points
- Who — Stephen Dimmick and Rhodri Lewis join the S4C Board.
- How long — four-year terms from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2030.
- Pay — board members receive £9,650 a year.
- Rules — both declared no significant political activity in the past five years.
A commercial leader and non-executive director, Mr Dimmick has experience spanning Wales's private, public and charitable sectors. Literature Wales is chaired by him, he is interim chief executive of The Aloud Charity, and his board and governance committee roles take in Monmouthshire Housing Association and the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. The digital audience engagement and market research platform doopoll was founded by him, and he led it until its 2022 sale. Cultural and public organisations now turn to him for advice on governance, commercial development, digital engagement and audience growth.
Mr Lewis, a qualified solicitor, brings more than 20 years of legal and commercial experience in sport. London, Asia and Switzerland are among the places he has worked, and he has taken up posts with football and rugby union governing bodies. At Carbon Law Partners in Cardiff, he now heads up sport. He also serves as a trustee of the Geraint Thomas Cycling Trust and sits on the Urdd's Sports and Apprenticeships Board, and he campaigns for diversity and inclusion within the legal profession.
These appointments followed the Governance Code on Public Appointments, which the Commissioner for Public Appointments oversees. Under the code, appointees must disclose significant political activity from the last five years — whether that is office-holding, public speaking, a recordable donation or standing for election. No such activity was declared by either man.
What it means in practice
The S4C board sets the direction of Wales's Welsh-language broadcaster, so who sits on it matters to viewers and to the wider creative sector in Wales. For most people, nothing changes day to day — this is a public appointment, not a change to services or bills.
- For licence-fee payers — board members are paid from public funds, at £9,650 a year each.
- For Wales's cultural sector — both appointees have backgrounds in Welsh arts, law and sport, which may shape S4C's commercial and governance priorities.
- For transparency — the political activity declarations are on the record, as the appointments code requires.
