Don Logan

There are two Don Logans.  One sits high atop Manhattan in a shiny glass tower, making executive decisions for the largest publishing corporation in media history, Time Warner Inc.  The other one balances in a skiff, casting for bass while whiffing gnats and slapping away Alabama mosquitoes. 

Yet to those who know him well, both personae fit comfortably under the same skin:  Logan the captain of industry and Logan the down-home outdoorsman.  And then there is the other thing about Logan: friends say he is the smartest man they have ever known and the best example of the right and left brain working in sync.

Logan attended Auburn University, the first in his family from Hartselle, Alabama, to do so, and studied mathematics. His college major represents one of many paradoxes.  In the world of words, art and ideas, he crunches numbers.  He has an honorary doctorate in the Sciences, another in the Humanities.  He swims with the sharks but fishes for bass. In 1970, he left NASA for the farm--Progressive Farmer, that is, the company that would become known as Southern Progress Corp. 

After revamping SPC’s computer system, he rose to CEO and eventually led the energetic regional publishing company to the attention of national publishing giant Time Inc.  It was not long before Time Inc. wanted not only Southern Progress Corp., but also Don Logan.  When he arrived in New York to serve as president and COO in 1992, the company was coming off its third straight year of declining or flat earnings, but under his direction the company posted seven straight years of double digit earnings growth with profits of $686 million in 1998.  By 1994, Logan was named CEO of Time Inc., the largest magazine publisher in the world and a leading direct marketer of music and videos.

His executive abilities are indisputable but so are his humanitarian passions. He has presided over Birmingham’s Chamber of Commerce, joined forces in creating the Civil Rights Institute, and served on the Boards of The National Book Foundation and the Magazine Publishers of America as well as serving as a trustee of Samford University--all the while keeping his old fashioned sense of values while embracing new fashioned technologies.

Some thought he would be consumed by the bigness of the Big Apple, a world where business is business, nothing personal.  But not Logan.  He has retained his small town sensibilities, something that has distinguished him and generated more respect.  “I would’ve left the company absolutely [if not for Logan],” says Ann Moore, President of People Group, the division best known for People Magazine.  “With Logan, it’s a true meritocracy.”