Howard T. Owens Biography

Howard T. Owens is an American media executive who currently serves as the president of National Geographic Channels.

Early life

Before launching his media career, Owens was an attorney in private practice in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he also served as a staff clerk for the Office of the State's Attorney. Owens is a graduate of Southern Methodist University (BA) and received his Juris Doctorate from the Quinnipiac University School of Law.

Career

William Morris Agency

Prior to Reveille, Owens was an agent in the corporate consulting and television packaging divisions at the William Morris Agency, representing television producers as well as top brands including Maxim Magazine, InStyle Magazine, eBay and Miramax Films. Before working at William Morris, he co-founded and served as a managing partner for Outdoor Concepts, a privately held outdoor media company that was purchased by Titan Media/New York.

Reveille

In 2002, Howard T. Owens served as Managing Director, Co-Head of Domestic Television and Head of Digital for Reveille LLC, which he co-founded with Ben Silverman. Owens was responsible for creating and developing a wide range of innovative programming and content for television and across various online platforms.

While at Reveille, Owens was the co-creator and executive producer of "Nashville Star," which aired for five seasons on USA Network and debuted on NBC in the summer of 2008. Owens also executive produced "American Gladiators (2008 TV series)," the hit show from NBC that premiered in January 2008, and was a co-executive producer of NBC's "The Biggest Loser," NBC's "My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad," "MasterChef," and "One Born Every Minute" as well as "Eyes on Target" (The History Channel).

Owens is also the co-creator and co-executive producer of NBC's "The Restaurant," Bravo (US TV channel)'s "Blow-Out" and MTV's "Date My Mom" and "Parental Control." He executive produced the first two seasons of F/X's "30 Days" as well as ESPN's "Bound For Glory," an eight-episode docu-series that Reveille produced in partnership with Full Circle Entertainment and was fully financed by Dodge, State Farm and Reebok. Owens also crafted Reveille's landmark deal with Microsoft, whereby Reveille created and produced online content for MSN. Additionally, in digital, he produced over 20 web series including Who Knew?, Fit to Boom, Real-Life Makeover with Holly Robinson Peete, Appetite for Life with Andrew Zimmerman and many more. Owens departed Reveille in the June 2011.

National Geographic Channels

On November 4, 2011, Owens was named President of National Geographic Channels where he will oversee the programming, development, communications, research and business affairs units at the U.S. networks.

Awards

As part of the "30 Days" production team, Owens received two 2007 Insight Awards of Excellence from the National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists for his work on the "Atheist/Christian" episode and for outsourcing other episodes. In addition, Owens received a GLAAD Award for the episode "Straight/Gay" and has been honored by the Muslim Public Affairs Council with its 2005 Voice of Courage and Conscience Media Award for the episode "Muslims and America." He was also nominated for a PGA award for his work on "30 Days."