Harvey Schiller is a retired Air Force brigadier general, who later helped to transform sports media as president of Turner Sports and chairman and CEO of YankeeNets.
Schiller grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and then attended The Citadel in Charleston where he played football and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He then served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, flying more than a thousand sorties in a C-123 Provider in South Vietnam and winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. He later earned Masters and Doctoral degrees in chemistry from the University of Michigan before becoming a professor and head of the chemistry department at the United States Air Force Academy.
He served as a command pilot in the U.S. Air Force from 1962 to 1986, including Vietnam service, attaining the rank of Brigadier General. In 1980, the President of the United States appointed Schiller as a Permanent Professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He holds several military awards including Air Medals, the Legion of Merit, and Distinguished Flying Cross. Schiller is a Distinguished Graduate of The Citadel, and a member of their Athletic and Business Halls of Fame, and recipient of the Palmetto Award. He is a member of the Board of National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Schiller began a second career in sports in 1986 when he was named commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. Four years later he became executive director of the U.S. Olympic Commission before moving on to serve as President of Turner Sports, Inc., a division of Time Warner, and President of the NHL franchise, the Atlanta Thrashers.
Before joining Turner, Schiller was Executive Director/Secretary General of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). He served as a consultant to the 1984 Los Angeles Games, a member of the IOC Commission on Women and Sports, and President of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). In 1994, he was awarded the prestigious Olympic Order, the highest honor for an individual by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
He later became chairman and CEO of YankeeNets, the ownership group that included the New York Yankees, New Jersey Nets, and New Jersey Devils. While at YankeeNets, he played a key role in creating the YES Network, one of the original and most successful regional sports cable networks.
In 2013, he was honored as one of the “Pioneers and Innovators in Sports Business” by the Sports Business Journal.
Schiller currently serves as chairman of Schiller Management Group, a global consulting and business solutions company, and as vice chairman of Diversified Search and CEO of Goal Acquisitions. He is also on the board of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
He became chairman of the board of the National Medal of Honor Leadership and Education Center in August 2023. (Full Announcement Release)
