Ashley Baker has been named vice president, Fossil/Hydro Engineering Procurement and Construction in Engineering and Construction Services for Southern Company. Baker will be responsible for engineering, procurement and construction activities for power plants managed by Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing, a business unit of Southern Company that works to manage and generate electricity for the company’s retail customers and markets energy in the competitive wholesale supply business.

“With his years of project management experience, Ashley has a proven track record of producing results while managing costs,” said Susan Story, executive vice president of Engineering and Construction Services, Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing. “He is responsible for a part of our business that is vital to our growth, and he is a key addition to our management team.”

Baker joined Southern Company in 1979, working in the construction department of Alabama Power, a Southern Company subsidiary. During the next 10 years, he continued to advance in his career at Alabama Power, participating in several major construction projects at the company’s generating facilities. He participated in the reconstruction of Walter Bouldin Dam, construction of R.L. Harris Dam, Barry Steam Plant retrofit construction and Miller units 3 and 4. In 1989, he transferred to fossil/Hydro generation, working in various positions at Gorgas Steam Plant. In 1994, he was named administrative manager of Power Generation Services. He was promoted to assistant to the senior production office two years later. In 1997, he was named fossil/hydro projects manager west in engineering and generation services.

Two years later, he was named maintenance planning manager in technical field services. Last year, he was named general manager of fossil/hydro projects in engineering and generation services before being promoted to his current position. A native of Andalusia, Ala., Baker holds a 1978 bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Auburn University and a 1993 master’s degree in business administration from UAB. He and his wife, Cheryl, have four children.