Thomas Fanning

Thomas A. "Tom" Fanning is CEO and president of Southern Company Elected by the board of directors in July 2010, Fanning became president of Southern Company in August 2010 and will assume the additional responsibilities of CEO and chairman in December.

Fanning has worked for Southern Company for 29 years and was most recently chief operating officer, where he was responsible for Southern Company’s generation and transmission, engineering and construction services, research and environmental affairs, system planning and the company’s competitive generation business units. Fanning was also responsible for leading Southern Company’s efforts on business strategy and also served as a director of Southern Nuclear.

Fanning attributes some of Southern's success to a constructive relationship with state and federal regulators.

Fanning also takes a cautious approach to natural gas development in the US, telling the Financial Times that a “rush to gas” for power generation risked making US electricity prices higher and more volatile.

In 2011, Forbes listed Fanning as receiving $5.58 million in total compensation for the 2011. He ranked 26th on the list of CEOs in the Utilities industry, and 425th among all CEOs in the United States. Fanning replaced David M. Ratcliffe in December, 2010.

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External Articles

 * Southern Company corporate website