Efa Gruffudd Jones
Welsh Language Commissioner
Originally from Morriston, near Swansea, Efa Gruffudd Jones received her secondary education at Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera, before going to Aberystwyth University to study in the Welsh Department.
She has followed a career that has combined her interest in the arts, and in the Welsh language. She worked for the Welsh Language Board and the Arts Council of Wales before being appointed Chief Executive of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, Wales's largest youth organisation, in 2004.
In 2016, she was appointed Chief Executive of the National Centre for Learning Welsh which is the body funded by the Welsh Government to provide strategic guidance in the field of Welsh language teaching for adults in Wales. During her time there, the Centre developed a new curriculum and resources, with an emphasis on digital resources, and led on the establishment of innovative projects including 'Work Welsh.'
Until recently Efa was Chair of the Board of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. She was also Vice-Chair of CWVYS, a trustee of the WCVA, and a member of the Welsh Language Partnership Council.
In her position as Welsh Language Commissioner, Efa wants to ensure that the Commissioner's powers are used to their full potential, to increase the use that is made of the language, and to ensure that the Commissioner plays a key role in the efforts to secure a prosperous future for the Welsh language.
Efa started as Welsh Language Commissioner in January 2023.
Gwenith Price
Deputy Commissioner and Strategic Director
Gwenith Llwyd Price is Deputy Welsh Language Commissioner and Strategic Director for the Welsh Language Commissioner. Her work includes setting strategic direction in the field of regulation and enforcement and promoting the legal rights of Welsh language users. She also leads the organisation's work in the field of Governance and Human Resources.
On a day-to-day level, her main role is to maintain and strengthen compliance with language duties alongside ensuring that those who wish to live their lives through the medium of Welsh know how the Welsh Language Commissioner can take steps to support that. She has a strategic leadership qualification and has further specialised in regulation.
She is married with two daughters and is a grandmother of two. She contributes to the life of the village of Pencaenewydd, where she lives. She is interested in gardening.
Lowri Williams
Strategic Director
Lowri Williams is the Strategic Director responsible for leading the work of the Finance, Policy, Hybu, Communications and Infastructure and Research teams.
Lowri is from Bangor. After twelve years living in Cardiff, she has now settled in Caernarfon.
She has a combined degree in Welsh and Spanish from Aberystwyth University where she also studied an MA in Spanish. She spent a year of her degree working in the Basque Country and after that she spent time traveling through Central and South America. Shee has worked for the Welsh Language Commissioner for ten years in positions in the field of Welsh language policy and infrastructure, and before that she led the Welsh Language Board's corpus planning work. She has spent her career promoting and facilitating the use of the Welsh language working as an academic coordinator for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol with the aim of establishing a professional translation studies course, a Welsh for Adults tutor, a terminologist, and a language officer for one of the national lottery charities. She has also served on the board of Mudiad Meithrin and the Llety Arall community initiative.
Lowri is currently the chairman of Elusen Ogwen which allocates grants to environmental and social projects in the Ogwen Valley with money from the profits of a local cooperative energy project. That valley is close to her heart and she enjoys exploring its mountains and working with her father to maintain a website about its rich history.