GULFPORT, MS — Mississippi Power’s board of directors has elected Carl J. Chaney as its newest member, effective July 6, 2009. Chaney is chief executive officer and president of Hancock Holding Company and Hancock Bank. He assumes the position on the board that was held by George Schloegel, retired CEO of Hancock Bank, who stepped down from the Mississippi Power board upon his election to mayor of Gulfport.

“Carl’s knowledge and experience as an investment banker, an attorney and as CEO of a company that serves essentially the same market as ours in Coastal Mississippi will be a great asset to our board,” said Anthony Topazi, CEO and president of Mississippi Power. “There are many great Mississippi-based companies and we are proud to add Carl --another business leader from one of these fine institutions -- to our board.”

Chaney joined Hancock Bank in 1998 and held several leadership positions before becoming CEO. Previously, he served as a director and shareholder in the law firm Watkins Ludlum Winter & Stennis, P.A. At Watkins Ludlum, Chaney specialized in investment banking and mergers and acquisitions in the banking industry.

Chaney graduated with honors from The University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance and a jurist doctorate degree from The University of Mississippi Law School.

Chaney serves on the boards of directors of the Gulf Coast Business Council, the Mississippi Economic Council, the Gulf Coast Renaissance Corporation, and the Mississippi Bankers Association where he was recently elected treasurer. He is past chairman of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce.

Mississippi Power, headquartered in Gulfport, MS, provides retail and wholesale electric service to approximately 200,000 customers in 23 counties from the Gulf Coast to Meridian.  The company owns or has significant ownership interests in six generating facilities with net dependable generating capacity of 3,166 megawatts.  Electricity is sent across 8,371 miles of transmission and distribution lines to retail customers principally in Gulfport, Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Meridian, Pascagoula, Columbia, Laurel, Waveland, Lucedale and Picayune. 

Large wholesale customers include six electric cooperatives -- Coast EPA, Singing River EPA, Southern Pine EPA, Dixie EPA, Pearl River EPA and East Mississippi EPA -- the City of Collins and South Mississippi Electric Power Authority.  Large retail customers include the following: the region's United States military installations -- Keesler Air Force Base and Naval Construction Battalion Center (Seabee Base); the University of Southern Mississippi; NASA Stennis Space Center; oil and gas infrastructure, including a refinery; multiple foundries and shipbuilders; the Mississippi National Guard's Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center near Hattiesburg and the Mississippi Air National Guard in Meridian.

Mississippi Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO), employs 1300 Mississippi residents.  In 2008, Mississippi Power paid $115 million in federal, state and local taxes.  Southern Company stock is held by nearly 3,000 Mississippi residents.