ATLANTA, Feb. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Company today announced the election of Linda P. Hudson to its board of directors. Hudson is the retired president and CEO of BAE Systems, Inc., a U.S.-based global defense, aerospace and security company, where she currently serves as an adviser and outside director. BAE Systems, Inc. is the wholly owned subsidiary of London-based BAE Systems plc.

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"Linda is an internationally renowned business leader for her experience in the defense industry," said Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning. "Her leadership in business operations and ability to drive results will be a tremendous asset to Southern Company as we prepare for America's energy future."  

Prior to her five-year tenure as CEO, Hudson served as president of BAE Systems' Land & Armaments operating group, the world's largest military vehicle and equipment business. Before joining BAE Systems in 2006, she served as an officer and vice president of the General Dynamics Corp. and president of General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products.

During a period of significant consolidation in the defense industry, Hudson held a variety of senior management positions in engineering, production operations, program management and business development. She began her career with the Harris Corporation and Ford Aerospace, and later led organizations at Martin Marietta through the Lockheed Martin merger and a subsequent divestiture to General Dynamics.

A member of the Bank of America board of directors, Hudson has been honored as one of Fortune Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and one of Washington's 100 Most Powerful Women by Washingtonian Magazine. She is a member of the International Women's Forum and C200, a global organization of women business leaders that presented her with the 2011 Luminary Award for Corporate Innovation. Hudson was also recognized by the USO with the 2011 Woman of the Year Distinguished Service Award. She received the Association of the U.S. Army's Dixon Award for her outstanding contribution to our nation's security in 2013 and was inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame in December 2013. Hudson recently joined the board of directors for the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan Washington, D.C., think tank.

Hudson earned a bachelor's degree in system engineering from the University of Florida, where she remains active in the alumni and athletic associations, serves on the advisory boards for the College of Engineering and the Foundation Board and is a Distinguished Alumnus. She is also a member of the university's Industrial and Systems Engineering Hall of Fame. Hudson also holds an honorary doctorate in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

With 4.4 million customers and nearly 46,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast through its subsidiaries. A leading U.S. producer of clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for energy innovation, excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national average. Southern Company and its subsidiaries are leading the nation's nuclear renaissance through the construction of the first new nuclear units to be built in a generation of Americans and are demonstrating their commitment to energy innovation through the development of a state-of-the-art coal gasification plant. Southern Company has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense and G.I. Jobs magazine as a top military employer and listed by DiversityInc as a top company for Blacks. The company received the 2012 Edison Award from the Edison Electric Institute for its leadership in new nuclear development, was named Electric Light & Power magazine's Utility of the Year for 2012 and is continually ranked among the top utilities in Fortune's annual World's Most Admired Electric and Gas Utility rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

SOURCE Southern Company