Presidents Named at Harpo Productions

CHICAGO: Sheri Salata, executive producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Erik Logan, executive VP of Harpo, Inc., have been named presidents of Harpo Productions, both reporting to Oprah Winfrey, the chairman of Harpo, Inc.

Tim Bennett, the president of Harpo, Inc., will retire at the end of May 2010. Salata and Logan will lead Harpo Productions’ efforts as the company develops new programming beyond The Oprah Winfrey Show for syndication, prime time, cable, radio, digital and emerging platforms. They will oversee the company’s original programming slate on air and in development. Salata also will continue her role as executive producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show through its 25th season, ending in 2011. Both Salata and Logan will remain based at Harpo Productions’ headquarters in Chicago.

“Harpo Productions is a world-class production company in Chicago and will continue on after The Oprah Winfrey Show sunsets,” said Winfrey. “Under Sheri and Erik’s leadership, I am confident in Harpo’s future and know that we will continue to create quality programming with compelling content for all platforms. Not even the sky is the limit for this company.”

“Without a doubt, Harpo has the best team in television,” commented Salata. “The secret to our success is that we know how to produce programming that resonates with viewers by appealing to the very best in all of us. That’s the Harpo creative ‘magic’ that we will bring to everything that we produce.”

Added Logan, “Harpo has built its reputation on consistently first-rate content with massive audience appeal on multiple platforms. Our history of proven success, combined with our unmatched production values and our ability to cultivate talent will be key drivers of our future growth.”