Biographies

Director, Wales

Menna Richards is Director, BBC Cymru Wales. She took up her new role in April 2009.

She is a member of the BBC's Direction Group chaired by the Director-General Mark Thompson and of the BBC's Journalism Board.

Previously she was Controller BBC Wales – a post she took up in February 2000.

Before joining the BBC, Menna was Managing Director of HTV Wales.

She was educated at Maesteg Grammar School and the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

As Director, BBC Cymru Wales, Menna is responsible for the organisation's strategic direction. She oversees all BBC Wales's services in English and Welsh on radio, TV and online plus a staff of 1,200 people.

Under Menna's leadership, BBC Cymru Wales has become a very successful centre of production for the BBC's networks including Doctor Who, Torchwood. Tribe, The One Show, and BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World.

As well as producing some of Wales's best-loved content including Wales Today, Pobol y Cwm and Scrum V, BBC Cymru Wales is also home to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

In January 2009, Hoddinott Hall, the orchestra's new concert hall and recording studio, was opened as part of the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay.

Menna has been involved with a number of organisations during her career, including as a member of the Board of the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation; the Sherman Theatre; and as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

She is currently a Vice-President of Cardiff University. She is an honorary fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; of Aberystwyth University; Glyndwr University; University of Wales, Lampeter and Cardiff University.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glamorgan.