25 Women To Know: Christina Norman

In an e-mail message to the staff at OWN on Friday, Ms. Winfrey said that Ms. Norman’s “hard work, passion and leadership were instrumental in getting OWN on the air,” but added, “Given all that we have to do, the OWN Board felt it was necessary that we have a different kind of leadership in place for the next phase of OWN’s growth.”

We are huge fans of Christina Norman, and we’re sure she’ll be back doing big things in the near future!

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Christina Norman

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In 2004 when Christina Norman earned the title of President of VH1 network, she had already spent years working to help change the failing cable network’s identity from an outdated channel with no core branding into a machine that cranked hit shows like I Love the 80’s and Best Week Ever. Norman’s watchful creative eye brought VH1 up to speed and helped the network not only survive, but thrive in the prime-time slot, taking its viewership numbers from 243,000 to 339,000. She went on to become president of MTV overseeing  MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Tr3s and MTV.com until leaving the company in 2008.

With endless television accolades and a trail of success in her wake, it was no surprise that Norman was amongst the top choice to run Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network. In January 2009 the then unlaunched network named Norman as CEO after over a year of searching for the right fit. OWN launched in January of this year and with Norman and Oprah at its helm it seems destined for success.

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Oprah Winfrey recently tapped former MTV President, Christina Norman as CEO to run her Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). The former MTV president will take over business and creative aspects of the network on February 17, and will be based in Los Angeles.

Winfrey, turned 55 on Thursday,