ATLANTA, Feb. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning today announced that James Y. Kerr II has been named general counsel, chief compliance officer and executive vice president of Southern Company, effective March 8.

Kerr is a partner at McGuireWoods LLP and a senior advisor at McGuireWoods Consulting LLC, where he also co-chairs the energy industry team. In this role, he leads the firm in the areas of energy transactions and finance, regulation, policy and litigation.

"Jim is an excellent addition to our leadership team, bringing more than 20 years of legal and regulatory experience in the energy sector to Southern Company," said Fanning. "He is recognized in the industry for the solid counsel he provides."

Kerr joined McGuireWoods in 2008, where he serves clients in various sectors of the energy industry, including Southern Company. He has extensive knowledge of federal energy policy and regulations. Kerr has solid experience representing utilities in base rate, fuel case and facility certification proceedings. He has been active in electric utility matters, including transmission and generation siting and development, environmental regulations, energy efficiency and Smart Grid.

Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Kerr was a member of the North Carolina Utilities Commission for eight years, including serving as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners from 2007 to 2008 and president of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners from 2002 to 2003.

In 2007, Kerr was a delegate to the 6th European Union-U.S. Energy Regulatory Roundtable in Athens, Greece. He was named the 2005 Bonbright Honoree by the James C. Bonbright Utilities Center of the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

Kerr, 49, earned a bachelor's degree from Washington and Lee University and a juris doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Electric Power Research 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.

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SOURCE Southern Company