Oprah Is Now OWN’s CEO

Oprah has just named herself CEO of OWN. Ha. I guess if something needs to get done, just do it yourself. She aslo named Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, the current presidents of Harpo Studios as the new presidents of OWN. Oprah should just appoint herself as Prime Minister while she’s at it. Who knows, maybe this will be the right push that OWN needs.

The press release sent out this morning:

Los Angeles, CA – OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network announced today that Oprah Winfrey will expand her role as chairman of the network and become the permanent chief executive officer and chief creative officer, effective this Fall. OWN also announced that Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, currently presidents of Harpo Studios, will now become presidents of OWN, effective immediately. Logan and Salata will work closely with Discovery Communications chief operating officer Peter Liguori in his role as interim CEO to ensure a smooth transition and maximum creative output over the coming months.

Additionally, all future television production at Harpo Studios will be directed exclusively to OWN, strengthening the alignment and programming mission of both companies. Going forward, Logan and Salata will maintain their leadership and oversight responsibilities for OWN produced content at Harpo Productions Inc including ROSIE debuting in October, OPRAH PRESENTS MASTER CLASS, IN THE BEDROOM WITH DR. LAURA BERMAN, and OPRAH’S NEXT CHAPTER coming in January 2012. Lisa Erspamer will also continue at OWN in the role of executive vice president of production and development.

“I am ready to dedicate my full creative energy and focus as the full time CEO of OWN. By aligning the mission, talent and leadership of Erik, Sheri, the OWN team, the Harpo team, along with expertise of David Zaslav, Peter and all of Discovery behind us, we can unleash the full potential of the network,” said Winfrey.

“The announcement of Oprah, Erik and Sheri completes the plan for developing a strategic creative track and finding the right management team to execute on that plan going forward,” said Liguori. “I look forward to a robust new season with Lisa Ling, Rosie and a number of projects that will continue building OWN’s audience, brand strength and growth.”

A veteran radio and media industry executive, Erik Logan joined Harpo in 2008 as executive vice president. Previously, Logan was executive vice president, programming and broadcast operations for XM Satellite Radio where he helped build the subscriber base to beyond 9 million subscribers, and negotiated partnerships and managed day-to-day relationships with major content providers including Major League Baseball, PGA Tour, CNN, Clear Channel Communications and Fox News. Prior to joining XM, Logan also served as president of programming for Citadel Broadcasting, and served for a over a decade at CBS/Infinity Broadcasting in a variety of roles, including vice president of programming.

Sheri Salata first joined Harpo Studios in 1995 as promotions producer. During her 15-year tenure, she has held positions with increasing levels of responsibility, including senior promotions producer, supervising producer of Promotion and Development, senior supervising producer of Promotion and Development, senior producer of Production, and supervising producer. Salata served as executive producer of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” September 2006 through its finale in 2011. Prior to joining Harpo Studios, Salata produced television commercials for Grey Chicago and Lois/GGK. Salata holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Iowa.