Oprah picks not one, but two new presidents for her Harpo Productions

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Tim Bennett, the longtime president of Oprah Winfrey’s bustling Chicago-based company, Harpo Productions Inc., said he is retiring at the end of May.

How important the low-key Bennett to Winfrey? So important that he’s being replaced with not one, but two people. Sheri Salata, who is currently executive producer of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show,’ and Erik Logan, executive vice president of Harpo Inc., will become presidents of Harpo. Their mission will be to ‘develop new programming for syndication, prime-time, cable television, radio and the Internet,’ according to the company.

While Winfrey is going to be devoting much of her resources to the launch of her cable network OWN, which is a partnership with Discovery Communications, Harpo will continue to sell product to everyone.

‘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,’ Winfrey said. Harpo Productions has one of the best track records in daytime television, producing four of the top shows in syndication today including ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show,’ ‘Dr. Phil,’ ‘Rachael Ray,’ and the production company’s latest hit, ‘The Dr. Oz Show.’ It will also present ‘Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special’ on Dec. 13 on ABC, showcasing Winfrey’s relationship with another president from Chicago that she helped to establish: Barack Obama.

-- Meg James