In a series of executive promotions and new assignments prompted by continued growth, Southern Energy Inc., a unit of Southern Company, has named Raymond D. Hill executive vice president and chief financial officer. In addition, Richard J. Pershing and S. Marce Fuller were named executive vice presidents. Gale E. Klappa was named senior vice president of Southern Energy and president of the company’s North America Group.

Frederick D. “Rick” Kuester, who has been serving as commercial director at Southern Energy’s Consolidated Electric Power Asia subsidiary for the past two years, succeeds Hill as managing director and chief executive officer of the Hong Kong-based company, which operates power stations in China and the Philippines. Hill also becomes chairman of the board of Consolidated Electric Power Asia.

Henry T. E. Coolidge Jr. moves from president of the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd., a Southern Energy affiliate, to become president of the newly formed Southern Energy New England subsidiary, based in Boston. Southern Energy New England will include the asset management of power stations Southern Energy is acquiring in Massachusetts and Maine and business development activities associated with those assets.

Larry M. Porter, currently vice president for operations at Savannah Electric and Power Co., another Southern Company subsidiary, will succeed Coolidge as president in Trinidad and Tobago, directing the operations of that nation’s power generation assets.

Craig S. Lesser, currently vice president for governmental and regulatory affairs at Southern Company’s Georgia Power subsidiary, becomes Southern Energy’s corporate vice president involved with asset development and operations.

Hill, 51, became chief executive of Consolidated Electric Power Asia – the largest independent power producer in Asia – after Southern Energy acquired the company in 1997. Previously, Hill was Southern Energy’s senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Prior to joining Southern Energy in 1993, Hill served as managing director at Lehman Brothers, responsible for investment banking operations in Asia outside of Japan. He also has served as assistant professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University and as special assistant to the Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs during the Carter Administration. Hill holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton.

Pershing, 52, currently serves as senior vice president of Southern Energy, directing business development and asset management in North America, Europe, South America and the Caribbean. In addition to assuming the title of executive vice president, Pershing retains his international business development and asset management responsibilities as well as his position as chairman of the board of a number of Southern Energy’s international subsidiaries.

Pershing joined Southern Company in 1971 as a senior analyst in the customer accounting department of Georgia Power, where he also served as a financial analyst, executive assistant to the senior vice president of finance, manager of cash budgeting and finance, vice president and treasurer and vice president of human resources. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance from Georgia State University and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Development Program at Emory University and the Corporate Finance Management Program at Harvard University.

Fuller, 38, currently serves as senior vice president of Southern Energy and as president and chief executive officer of Southern Company Energy Marketing, which provides energy trading, marketing and financial services and other energy-related commodities, products and services to customers in North America. She will retain her responsibilities as chief executive of Southern Company Energy Marketing, which, under her leadership, has become the No. 2 wholesale marketer of electricity in the United States and one of the nation’s 10 largest marketers of natural gas.

Fuller joined Southern Company’s Alabama Power subsidiary in 1985, where she worked in a number of positions, including power systems engineer and electric system planning engineer. She also served as senior financial analyst, strategic planner, and assistant to the president at Southern Company Services.

At Southern Energy, Fuller has been a business development manager, international project director and senior vice president for North American operations. She became chief executive of Southern Company Energy Marketing in 1997, when that company was formed as a joint venture between Southern Energy and Vastar Resources of Houston. Fuller holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alabama and a master’s degree in power system engineering from Union College.

Klappa, 48, currently serves as chief executive of South Western Electricity of Bristol, England, which Southern Energy owns in partnership with PP&L Resources. In his new position, Klappa will oversee Southern Energy’s rapidly growing businesses in North America, including new business development and asset management of the company’s various domestic business units.

Klappa became chief executive at South Western Electricity when Southern Company acquired the British utility in 1995. During his tenure, the company consistently surpassed its financial goals, achieved a turnaround from having the most complaints of any electricity company in the United Kingdom to the fewest customer complaints, and improved its reliability (as measured by the number of outage minutes per customer) by 45 percent. The company also became a leader in economic development efforts in southwest England. Prior to his assignment in England, Klappa served as senior vice president of marketing at Georgia Power.

Klappa joined Southern Company in 1974 as a senior public relations assistant at Southern Company Services, where he also served as manager of news and corporate information, director of public relations and vice president of public relations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Kuester, 48, was vice president for power generation and delivery at Southern Company’s Mississippi Power subsidiary before being named director of the commercial group at Consolidated Electric Power Asia in January 1997. He also has served in a number of management positions at Southern Company, including vice president for investor relations. He joined Southern Company in 1971 and holds a master’s degree in business administration from Samford University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University.

Coolidge, 39, became chief executive at the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago when Southern Energy acquired an ownership interest and management control of that company in 1994. He previously directed Southern Energy’s operations and maintenance group. He also has served in a number of positions at Southern Company’s Mississippi Power subsidiary, including power plant manager, senior power plant maintenance engineer and power plant performance engineer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Mississippi State University.

Porter, 53, joined Southern Company in 1976 as a plant engineer with Georgia Power. He has served in various engineering and management positions, including system performance engineer and assistant plant manager with Georgia Power and vice president for power supply and system operations at Savannah Electric. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech and a master’s degree in business administration from Georgia College.

Lesser, 47, who joined Southern Company in 1981, currently is responsible for Georgia Power’s governmental relations on the federal and state levels, including the Georgia Public Service Commission. He has served in a number of management positions at Georgia Power, including manager of regulatory affairs, manager of legislative affairs, Washington representative and media relations manager. He holds a bachelor’s degree in speech and theater from the State University of New York at Oneonta and is a graduate of Harvard University’s Advanced Management International Senior Managers’ program.

“These promotions and new assignments reflect the rapid growth of Southern Energy’s presence in energy markets around the world,” Southern Energy President Tom Boren said. “The depth of talent and experience on our management team is unsurpassed anywhere in our industry. They will help lead Southern Company and Southern Energy through a period of continued aggressive growth toward an even more successful future as one of the world’s preeminent energy companies.”

Southern Energy Inc. develops, builds, owns and operates power production and delivery facilities and provides a broad range of services to utilities and industrial companies around the world. Southern Energy supplies energy in 10 countries on four continents. Its Southern Company Energy Marketing unit provides energy trading, marketing and financial services and other energy-related commodities, products and services to customers in North America.

Southern Energy’s other subsidiaries and affiliates include Consolidated Electric Power Asia; Freeport Power Co. in the Bahamas; South Western Electricity in England; Bewag, the electric utility serving Berlin; EDELNOR, the power producer serving northern Chile; CEMIG, an electric utility in Brazil; the Alicura power station in Argentina; the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago; the Birchwood power station in Virginia; and the State Line power station in Indiana.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO), the largest producer of electricity in the United States, is also the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric.