Southern Company announced today that John F. Young, vice president of the company’s wholesale power marketing group, has been named executive vice president of Southern Company’s generation unit.

In his new role, Young will oversee fuel services, and generation planning and development, in addition to Southern Wholesale Energy, the largest wholesale power provider in the southeastern United States. He will continue to report to Charles McCrary, president of Southern Company’s business unit that includes all non-nuclear power generation for the company’s five electric utilities in the Southeast – about 30,000 megawatts of capacity.

“Under John’s guidance, Southern Wholesale Energy continued to outpace the competition by growing market share in the Southeast,” McCrary said. “In his expanded leadership role, John will be ideally suited to help prepare us for the competitive road ahead.”

Young joined the wholesale marketing organization when it was formed in February 1996. Southern Wholesale Energy serves municipalities, electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities in and around Southern Company’s traditional four-state service territory. It was set up to maximize the return on Southern Company’s generation assets in the emerging competitive market.

Before that, Young managed Southern Company’s fuel planning and procurement organization, overseeing the largest utility-owned coal-buying operation in the country. He also has served as vice president of investor relations in the company’s New York office, where he was responsible for communication with Wall Street and the investment community.

He graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. After serving six years with the U. S. Navy, he began his Southern Company career at Gulf Power in 1983 in the industrial marketing organization, eventually being named Gulf Power’s general manager of marketing.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO), the largest producer of electricity in the United States, is the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric. Based in Atlanta, Southern Company, through its Southern Energy Inc. subsidiary, supplies electricity in 10 countries on four continents. Southern Company also provides energy-related marketing, trading and technical services and Southern LINC wireless telecommunications.

Apart from Southern Wholesale Energy, Southern Company markets wholesale electricity and other forms of energy through its Southern Energy Inc. subsidiary.