The board of directors of Southern Company has elected President and Chief Executive Officer Allen Franklin as its chairman. Franklin replaces retiring Chairman A.W. “Bill” Dahlberg as the board’s new leader.

Franklin, 56, will hold the titles of chairman, president and CEO. Prior to the board electing him to the president and CEO position last month, Franklin had served as president and chief operating officer of Southern Company since 1999. From 1994 to 1999, Franklin was president and CEO of Georgia Power, Southern Company’s largest subsidiary.

Franklin joined Southern Company Services in 1970 as an engineer and gained experience in several engineering and management positions at SCS and Alabama Power before being named senior vice president of Alabama Power in 1981. He returned to SCS in 1983 as executive vice president and was named president and CEO of that subsidiary in 1988. Franklin, regarded as one of the industry’s most respected leaders, is chairman of Edison Electric Institute`s CEO Steering Committee on Strategic Issues. He serves as chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. He is immediate past president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and immediate past chairman of Central Atlanta Progress. He is a director on several boards, including: the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America; the Georgia Department of Industry Trade and Tourism; and the national board of the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is a super-regional energy company with more than 32,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Southeast. It is one of the largest producers of electricity in the U.S. Southern Company is the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power, Savannah Electric, Southern Nuclear, Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing, Southern Company Energy Solutions, Southern LINC and Southern Telecom. Southern Company brands are synonymous with excellent customer service, high reliability, and prices that are 15 percent below the national average.