ATLANTA, Jan. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Company Services President and CEO Mark S. Lantrip today announced that Tami M. Barron has been elected president and CEO of SouthernLINC Wireless, an Atlanta-based regional wireless communications network, effective Feb. 1, 2015. She most recently served as vice president of Southern Company's supply chain management organization.

In her new role, Barron will be responsible for providing reliable wireless communications service, including mobile phones, to a wide range of businesses and consumers within a 127,000-square-mile coverage area that includes Alabama, Georgia, southeastern Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

"Technology and communication are ever-changing but vital parts of every phase of our business," said Lantrip. "Tami's understanding of our core business will be a tremendous asset as SouthernLINC Wireless partners with and supports Southern Company's operating companies, as well as our other individual and business customers across the Southeast."

Barron replaces Don Horsley, who will serve as chairman of the board of SouthernLINC Wireless until his retirement later this spring.

Barron, 53, joined Southern Company in 1984 and held a number of positions at subsidiary Georgia Power in the areas of marketing, area management and distribution operations before serving as general manager for distribution engineering, construction and maintenance. She spent three years at subsidiary Mississippi Power in engineering operations, where she served as division engineering and operations manager of the Pine Belt division in Hattiesburg.

Barron graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering. She earned a master's of business administration from Columbus College and is a graduate of the Goizueta Business School's Executive Program at Emory University.

SouthernLINC Wireless, a Southern Company subsidiary, is an Atlanta-based regional wireless carrier with network coverage in the major metro and rural areas of Alabama, Georgia, southeastern Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle. SouthernLINC Wireless combines multiple communication options, including Push To Talk (PTT) two-way radio, cellular service, wireless Internet access, wireless data and text and picture messaging, into one handheld device. For more information, please call 1-800-818-LINC (5462) or visit www.southernlinc.com.

With more than 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, listed by DiversityInc as a top company for Blacks and designated a 2013 Top Employer for Hispanics by Hispanic Network. The company received the 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