Tina Perry, executive vice president of legal affairs at the Oprah Winfrey Network, has been promoted to general manager. She’ll be assuming the top leadership role and reporting directly to Oprah, OWN’s chairman and CEO, after network President Erik Logan leaves at the end of 2018.
Perry, who joined Oprah’s media empire in 2009, was part of the original executive leadership that launched OWN. She has been instrumental in negotiating deals with talent such as Ava DuVernay, Will Packer, Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil, according to Hollywood Reporter. In her new job, she’ll run one of the most successful rosters on cable TV, including “Queen Sugar”, “Greenleaf” and Tyler Perry originals.
Perry joined OWN after working in business and legal affairs at VH1 and MTV at Viacom. Before that, she was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP in New York, representing companies in public offerings, private placements and corporate governance.
She graduated from Harvard Law School, has a master’s degree from the University of Oxford and graduated with honors from Stanford University, according to a Discovery, Inc. ress release. Perry started at OWN as senior vice president and head of business and legal affairs, and was later promoted to executive vice president.
Discovery, Inc. paid $70 million in late 2017 to become the majority shareholder in OWN. Previously OWN was owned 50-50 by Discovery and Oprah’s Harpo.
Perry will be replacing Logan, The Wrap reported. The former network president is leaving OWN to become president of content, media and studio at World Surf League — a surfing-event company.
“The difference in title (‘president’ vs. ‘general manager’) is merely due to how Discovery does things,” The Wrap reported.
Perry oversees all business affairs and legal matters at OWN, OWN Studios and Oprah.com, development, reality and scripted programming, production, talent, marketing, acquisitions, operations and press. She also oversees OWN standards and practices, international sales, union administration, insurance, participations, scripted and international deliverables, rights management and risk assessment.
Oprah said in a statement, “Tina (Perry) has been an important and valued member of the executive team at OWN since before launch and played a vital role in shaping the network as a member of the board. I am confident in taking the reins at OWN she will guide the network to continued success.”
Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav credits Logan with producing world class storytelling and contributing to OWN’s growth and success over the past 10 years. “OWN would not be the strong and quality brand, platform, and commercial enterprise it is today without Erik’s tireless hard work,” Zaslav said.
