By Kevin McCauley
Oprah Winfrey had decided to name herself CEO and chief creative officer of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture of Winfrey’s Harpo Studios and Discovery Communications.
She succeeds Christina Norman, who was bounced two months ago in a management shake-up. Norman did a four month stint as the third chief of OWN since it was formed in 2008.
Winfrey says she is ready to dedicate her “full creative energy and focus as the full time CEO of OWN.” She had held the chairman spot.
Her two lieutenants and Harpo Studios presidents Erik Logan and Sheri Salata are taking the same titles at OWN. The maintain their Harpo roles.
Logan joined Harpo in 2008 from XM Satellite Radio, whre he was executive VP for programming and broadcast operations. Earlier, he was programming president at Citadel Broadcasting and worked for a decade at CBS/Infinity Broadcasting.
Salata moved to Harpo in 1995 as promotions producer. She rose through the promotion, development and productions ranks to become executive director of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2006 though its finale this year. Before Harpo, Salata made ads for Grey Advertising and Lois/GGK.
Logan and Salata are to work with OWN’s interim CEO, Peter Liguori, Discovery Communications COO, to ensure a smooth transition to the fall takeover of Winfrey.
OWN launched Jan. 1 on the former Discovery Health Channel. It is available in 80M homes. |