Don Logan (born 1944) is an American media executive from Hartselle, Alabama who lives in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. A retired

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

media chairman, Logan owned the

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The Baron ...

minor-league baseball team until 2023. In May 2011, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. In 2010, he led an ownership group to purchase the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society from

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. In late 2011, they relocated B.A.S.S. headquarters from Celebration, Florida, to Birmingham.

Education

Pursuing a degree in mathematics, Logan graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

in 1966. He also holds a master's degree in mathematics from

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Auburn University (1997), Clemson University and University of Alabama at Birmingham (1997).

Work

While a co-op student at Auburn University, Logan alternated between school and working at the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...

outpost in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...

, writing computer programs. Upon graduating, Logan did a brief stint with Shell Oil’s research division, leaving in 1970 to take a job as a

data processing Data processing is the collection and manipulation of digital data to produce meaningful information. Data processing is a form of ''information processing'', which is the modification (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an o ...

manager for Progressive Farmer (later renamed Southern Progress Corporation).

Southern Progress Corporation

After working in

for two years, Logan was promoted to vice president and general manager of Akra Data, the computer division. He then went on to be named president of the book publishing division of SPC, Oxmoor House, in 1978, and in 1984 became executive vice president of the company. In 1986, Time Inc. acquired the company, and Logan was promoted to

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of SPC. He was CEO when the author Harry Middleton worked there. The largest regional magazine and book publishing company in the country, SPC publishes ''

Southern Living ''Southern Living'' is a lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, garden plans, and information about Southern culture and travel. It is published by Birmingham, Alabama Alabama ...

'', '' Cooking Light'', ''

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

'' and '' Coastal Living'' magazines and Oxmoor House books, and it is a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Time Inc.

Time Inc.

Six years after Logan’s promotion to CEO at SPC, he moved to New York to serve as president and

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

of Time Inc. In August 1994, two years after moving to New York to work with Time Inc., Logan was named

, later taking on the additional title of chairman in July 1997. Under his direction, Time Inc. experienced 11 straight years of earnings growth. In 2002, Logan became

of AOL Time Warner's Media and Communications Group, overseeing

America Online AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo! Inc. The service tra ...

, Time Inc.,

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, o ...

, the AOL Time Warner Book Group and Interactive Video Unit. He retired from Time Warner in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Logan, Don 1944 births Southern Progress Corporation American chief operating officers Living people People from Hartselle, Alabama People from Mountain Brook, Alabama Auburn University alumni