ATLANTA, Feb. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Company Chief Financial Officer Art P. Beattie today announced that Todd A. Perkins has been elected assistant treasurer of Southern Company, effective Feb. 9. Perkins succeeds Earl C. Long, who has announced plans to retire.
"Earl is a widely respected leader whose proven ability to strategically address complex financial issues has helped deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in customer and shareholder value," said Beattie. "Todd has exceptional leadership, financial acumen and experience, as well as a unique level of risk management expertise that will be important to developing financial and treasury solutions in the years ahead."
Perkins currently serves as director of the enterprise risk management organization for Southern Company, with responsibility for enterprise risk management, risk analysis and the risk control function for the company's energy-trading activities. As assistant treasurer, Perkins will have overall responsibility for managing the treasury functions of Southern Company, Southern Company Services (SCS) and the company's regulated utilities, including liquidity management, derivatives hedging, long-term financing, cash operations and counterparty credit policy and analysis, and will serve as the lead in credit-rating agency management.
Perkins, 43, joined Southern Company in 1997 as an analyst in the treasury department and progressed through various areas of responsibility. In 2000, he became manager of credit and risk oversight, with responsibility for developing and executing strategies to manage the company's interest rate and wholesale credit exposure. In 2004, Perkins was named manager of the risk control group responsible for risk and credit policy, derivative valuation and risk measurement, and derivative accounting for the company's energy-trading activities. He was promoted to director of enterprise risk management in 2007 when several risk groups were combined under his leadership.
Perkins holds a bachelor's of science in economics from Clemson University and a master's of business administration from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.
Long, 57, joined subsidiary Georgia Power's regulatory analysis group in 1981 and has held positions in all areas of finance. For the past decade, he has led the Southern Company treasury team, with additional responsibilities as assistant treasurer of Georgia Power, subsidiary Southern Power and SCS.
During a career in which he oversaw the issuance of more than $30 billion in securities, Long has been the company lead for rating agency interaction and has served as chairman of the company's energy credit committee. Most recently, he served as lead negotiator for the first-ever federal nuclear loan guarantees, helping the company secure up to $3.46 billion in U.S. Department of Energy financing for the development of Plant Vogtle units 3 and 4.
With more than 4.5 million customers and approximately 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