The Southern Company
Leadership History
2 leaders · 2010 to present
Christopher Womack is the CEO of Southern, in the role since 2023. The first chief executive was Thomas A. Fanning, from 2010.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Womack | Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer | 2023 | Present | 3 |
| Thomas A. Fanning | Former Chairman and CEO | 2010 | 2024 | 14 |
Headquartered in Atlanta, The Southern Company is one of the largest US utilities by customers and market value. It owns about 46 GW of generating capacity and serves roughly 9 million electric and gas customers across Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Illinois, Virginia and Tennessee. It trades on the NYSE as SO and is a member of the S&P 500. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Southern Company makes most of its money from state-regulated utilities. Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power are vertically integrated electric utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution and charge rates approved by their state commissions, earning an allowed return on the capital they invest. Southern Company Gas distributes natural gas through Atlanta Gas Light, Nicor Gas, Virginia Natural Gas and Chattanooga Gas. Southern Power sells wholesale electricity from gas, solar, wind and battery assets mostly under long-term contracts. Earnings growth therefore depends on growing the regulated asset base and recovering those costs in rates.
Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
2023 – Present
3 years (current)
Chris Womack became CEO in May 2023 and chairman in 2024 after leading Georgia Power and Southern Company external affairs. He oversaw the completion of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 and the shift toward serving data center demand, including the OpenAI contract in Georgia.
Former Chairman and CEO
2010 – 2024
14 years
Tom Fanning was CEO from December 2010 to May 2023 and stayed on as executive chairman into 2024. He led the 2016 AGL Resources acquisition, the 2019 sale of Gulf Power to NextEra and the continuation of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 after Westinghouse's 2017 bankruptcy.
Southern Company's main challenge is building enough generation and transmission for 17 GW of contracted large load without pushing up bills for existing customers. Georgia Power base rates are frozen through at least 2028, and Georgia's elected Public Service Commission remains sensitive to affordability after the Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 overrun. The $81B 2026-2030 capital plan needs steady debt and some equity funding, so higher interest rates raise costs. Hurricane and storm damage, transformer and turbine supply constraints, and the risk that data center demand ramps slower than contracted are further risks.
Christopher C. Womack is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Company, assuming the role of CEO in May 2023 and the additional role of Chairman of the Board of Directors in December 2023. He previously served as Chairman, President, and CEO of Georgia Power and Executive Vice President of Southern Company Gas.
Christopher Womack made corporate history by becoming the first African American chief executive officer and chairman in Southern Company's more than 75-year corporate history, ranking among a select group of Black leaders directing Fortune 500 corporations.
Thomas A. Fanning served as CEO for thirteen transformative years from 2010 to 2023. He oversaw the $12 billion acquisition of AGL Resources in 2016, spearheaded national cybersecurity defense for the U.S. electric grid, and steered the monumental Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 project through the Westinghouse bankruptcy to the brink of commercial operation.
Eugene A. Yates was a pioneering electrical engineer who served as the first chairman of The Southern Company upon its formal incorporation in 1945 until 1957. Yates orchestrated the unified transmission pooling agreements between Alabama Power and Georgia Power; Plant Yates near Newnan, Georgia, was named in his honor.
David M. Ratcliffe served as Chairman, President, and CEO of Southern Company from 2004 to 2010. Ratcliffe laid the foundation for the nuclear revival by securing the early site permit and combined operating licenses for Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, while initiating the company's first major coal plant environmental retrofits.
H. Allen Franklin served as CEO from 2001 to 2004, having previously run Georgia Power. Franklin led the company through the aftermath of the 2001 Enron collapse and California energy crisis, reinforcing Southern Company's conservative, fully regulated utility focus and divesting international and speculative merchant assets.
A.W. Dahlberg served as CEO from 1995 to 2001. He led Southern Company during the initial wave of global utility deregulation, creating Southern Energy Inc. (which was later spun off as Mirant Corporation in 2001 to insulate regulated rate-base operations from wholesale merchant trading volatility).
Edward L. Addison served as President and CEO from 1983 to 1995. Addison oversaw the completion and commercial entry of the original Plant Vogtle Units 1 and 2 in the late 1980s, navigated the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, and established the centralized holding company structure that defines modern operations.
Southern Company relies on deliberate, multi-decade internal executive development. Future CEOs typically rotate through operational leadership roles across subsidiaries—running Georgia Power, Alabama Power, Southern Company Gas, or external affairs—ensuring broad mastery of state regulation, rate making, engineering, and workforce management.
Tom Fanning served as co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a bipartisan U.S. congressional body created to develop a comprehensive national strategy to defend critical American infrastructure against foreign cyberattacks. Under his leadership, Southern Company served as the utility industry benchmark for federal intelligence coordination.
Womack's strategic priorities focus on: integrating Vogtle Units 3 and 4 into the operational rate base, meeting surging electricity demand from AI data centers and manufacturing without sacrificing reliability, expanding utility-scale solar and battery storage, and preserving customer bill affordability.
Southern Company's Board consists of an independent Lead Independent Director alongside diverse committee leaders with deep backgrounds in military intelligence, industrial manufacturing, academia, and finance. Committees oversee audit, nuclear operations, compensation, finance, and cyber/environmental safety.
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