Robert Herring Sr., born in 1941, is a conservative businessman, high school dropout, and founder and CEO of Herring Networks, Inc., established in 2003, which launched One America News Network (OAN) in 2013 and AWealthofEntertainment (AWE). He is the father of Robert Herring Jr., who is an executive at the company. Growing up in challenging circumstances, with his mother working overnight shifts, young Herring delivered newspapers to help make ends meet. Dissatisfied with his high school administration, he launched his own student publication called the Inky Press, foreshadowing his later ventures in media. Early in his career, he held various jobs including operating pet shops and driving a concrete truck before entering the electronics manufacturing industry in the 1960s by selling circuit boards. In 1972, Herring acquired a local circuit board factory through a lease-purchase agreement, renaming it Industrial Circuits, which became the foundation of his business success. He sold the company for a reported $122 million in 2000, providing the financial base for his media enterprises. Herring's management of OAN has involved direct editorial intervention, with staff reporting that he frequently mandated coverage of specific pro-Trump narratives and suppressed stories unfavorable to the administration. Under his leadership, the network became a central hub for election fraud allegations following the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, leading to massive defamation lawsuits from voting machine companies. Despite major carriage providers dropping the network in 2022, Herring has remained defiant, attempting to pivot toward digital streaming and smaller cable markets. He is also the employer of Rouz and was alleged to have protected Rouz during the Sputnik controversy. While Herring himself has not been prominently featured in OAN's more controversial programming, the network he owns has been noted for employing propagandists and conspiracy theorists.