Tom Fanning, outgoing CEO at Southern Co. | Southern Co.

Southern Co. (NYSE:SO) announced a major executive reshuffle Thursday, with CEO Tom Fanning set to step down from most of his roles and the head of its biggest subsidiary tapped as his successor.

The company’s board of directors named Chris Womack, current CEO of Georgia Power, to take over as CEO of the overall organization; he will also succeed Fanning as president. Womack has also been elected as a member of the board, though Fanning — the board’s current chair — will remain with the company as executive chairman after ceding the CEO’s office to Womack.

Fanning plans to remain as president until the end of March and step down as CEO after Southern’s annual meeting this year. The date for the meeting has not been announced, though the gathering has been held in late May for at least the last five years.

Along with Womack’s ascension, the utility announced the following executive appointments:

• Kimberly Greene to succeed Womack as CEO, president and chair of Georgia Power;
• Jeff Peoples as CEO, president and chair of Alabama Power;
• James Kerr II as CEO, president and chair of Southern Company Gas; and
• Peter Sena III as president of Southern Nuclear.

Peoples will step into his new role immediately; the other moves are effective March 31. Sena will remain as chief nuclear officer of Southern Nuclear, while Stephen Kuczynski, the subsidiary’s chairman and CEO, will also keep his positions.

Womack has worked at Southern since 1988; prior to joining the utility, he worked for the U.S. House of Representatives. He became president of Georgia Power in 2020 and added the chair and CEO duties in 2021.

“Chris’s leadership, vision and integrity during his career with Southern Co. have uniquely prepared him to guide Southern … into a new era,” Fanning said in a media release. “I have confidence that Chris will continue our progress and deliver on [our] commitment to providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy and customized solutions to customers across the United States.”

Southern Active Under Fanning’s Leadership

Fanning became president of Southern in August 2010, assuming the roles of chair and CEO just a few months later. Under his tenure the utility has played an active role in the industry, spearheading influential, though sometimes controversial, initiatives.

Among Southern’s recent efforts is the launch of the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM). Southern — as part of a consortium of electric utilities including Duke Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Dominion Energy South Carolina and Louisville Gas & Electric — proposed the market in 2021, suggesting that the planned expansion of bilateral trading in 11 Southeastern states would reduce trading friction while promoting the integration of renewable resources.

The project faced criticism from the start, with opponents skeptical the market would live up to its proponents’ promises. FERC only passed the SEEM agreement on a technicality in 2021, when the commission — down a member because of the departure of Neil Chatterjee — deadlocked 2-2 and the agreement took effect automatically in accordance with Section 205 of the Federal Power Act (ER21-1111, et al.). (See SEEM to Move Ahead, Minus FERC Approval.)

Since then SEEM has moved ahead despite ongoing attempts by various activist groups to reverse FERC’s approval: The market began operation in November, and utilities have continued to adopt the market. Most recently the commission approved the requests of Tampa Electric and Duke Florida to join SEEM, effective Jan. 1 (ER23-323, et al.). FERC still faces an ongoing lawsuit over its SEEM decision in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals filed last year. (See Environmental Groups Appeal SEEM in DC Circuit.)

Vogtle Units 4 (left) and 3 in November, with the cooling towers for Units 1 and 2 in the background | Georgia Power

 

Fanning also leaves unfinished the construction of Units 3 and 4 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. The two reactors — which Southern calls the first new nuclear units built in the U.S. in the last 30 years — have drawn much criticism over their frequent delays and cost overruns, including an inspection by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2021 into Unit 3’s safety systems. (See Southern Faces NRC Inspection over Vogtle Repair Work.)

Southern began fuel load for Unit 3 in October and says the reactor should come online in the first quarter of this year. Unit 4 is scheduled to be completed in either the third or fourth quarter.