BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Southern Company today named Susan N. Story vice president of procurement, reporting to the president of Southern Company Generation, the business unit responsible for developing and operating all of Southern Company’s non-nuclear generating plants in the Southeast. Story will fill the position held by Otis Berkhan who will retire from the company on May 31, 2000.

Story, 40, is currently vice president of corporate real estate and corporate services for Alabama Power. She will continue her administrative services duties for Southern Company Generation.

“Susan’s responsibilities at Southern Company Generation will continue to expand and grow as our business changes,” said Charles McCrary, president of Southern Company Generation. “Her extensive background in generation, district operations and corporate activities gives her a well-rounded platform to assist us in leading Southern Company Generation.”

Story joined Southern Company with Alabama Power in 1982. She has held positions in nuclear generation, planning and productivity, and district operations. In 1990, she served as director of human resources and organizational effectiveness for Southern Company Services. She returned to Alabama Power in 1993 as a loaned executive to the Business Council of Alabama. That same year she was named vice president of corporate real estate. In addition, Story assumed responsibility for corporate services in 1997.

Story holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She is a 1998 graduate of The Oxford Advanced Management Program at Templeton College, Oxford, England; a 1992 graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Duke University; and she completed the International Women’s Foundation Leadership Fellows Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Story recently was chosen as one of the 12 women worldwide to participate in the 1999-2000 Leadership Foundation Fellows Program sponsored by the International Women’s Forum. Story is active in the Auburn University Alumni Engineering Council; the University of Alabama-Birmingham Council of Industrial Advisors for the Department of Material and Mechanical Engineering; the Cahaba Council for Girl Scouts; the Board of Trustees for Alabama Real Estate Research and Education Center at University of Alabama; and the Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association Board of Directors.

Susan is married to Dr. Joseph L. Story, a family medicine physician in Shelby County. They attend Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an international energy company that operates more than 48,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity worldwide. It is the largest producer of electricity in the United States and one of the world’s largest independent power producers. Southern Company subsidiaries and their affiliates serve 12 million retail customers worldwide and millions more through the wholesale market. Based in Atlanta, Southern Company is the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric.