Southern Company Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Dahlberg was elected to the Board of Governors of The Nature Conservancy. The board consists of a variety of leaders from academia and business who are committed to The Nature Conservancy’s goals and ideals.

“Through its actions over the years, Southern Company has demonstrated a commitment to environmental stewardship,” said John Sawhill, president of The Nature Conservancy. “Bill Dahlberg has taken the lead on a number of initiatives to preserve and protect our natural resources. He will bring a valuable perspective to our board.”

The Nature Conservancy preserves plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. Operating in the United States for the past 40 years, the Conservancy also has launched programs in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific to help protect millions of acres outside the United States. The operator of the largest private system of nature sanctuaries in the world, the Conservancy owns and manages more than 1,340 preserves throughout the United States.

“Southern Company employees, customers and shareholders are committed to protecting the environment because we believe it’s the right thing to do to ensure the quality of life in the communities we serve,” Dahlberg said. “The Nature Conservancy has been a wonderful partner as we’ve worked to be good stewards of the environment. I’m honored to have a close association with the Conservancy.”

In partnership with The Nature Conservancy’s Last Great Places project, Southern Company has worked to preserve three important habitats in its service territory: The Grand Bay Savanna, one of the last wet pine savannas in the South; the Altamaha River, which has flowed through Georgia for more than 20 million years; and the longleaf pine forest of the Florida panhandle, one of the richest ecosystems in the world.

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.