BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Jan. 29, 2008 - Alabama Power has announced changes in leadership in three key positions.  Steve Spencer has been named executive vice president of the Customer Service Organization, Mark Crosswhite has been named executive vice president of External Affairs, and Gordon Martin has been named senior vice president and general counsel. The changes are effective Feb. 1, 2008.
 
“These individuals have already proven themselves as highly effective leaders within our company,” said Alabama Power President and CEO Charles McCrary.  “They are multi-talented contributors to Alabama Power, and I have high confidence that the depth of their experience will be a true asset to the sound footing and future of Alabama Power.”

In his new role, Spencer will have responsibility for all facets of customer service, including marketing, power delivery, division and local offices within the company service territory, as well as the corporate services area of the company, which includes supplier relations, fleet management and corporate real estate.  Crosswhite will oversee governmental affairs, public relations, economic and community development, education and volunteer services and environmental affairs.  Martin will assume responsibility for all legal and corporate governance matters for the company.

Spencer is a native of Birmingham and serves as executive vice president of external affairs.  He joined Alabama Power in 1978 and has held positions of increasing responsibility at Alabama Power, Southern Nuclear and Southern Company, including Southern Nuclear director of governmental affairs and general manager of Alabama Power corporate services.  He moved to Atlanta in 1995 to become assistant to the Southern Company chairman, president and CEO, and later became senior vice president of Southern Company external affairs.  He returned to Alabama in 2000 as senior vice president of Alabama Power external affairs.  He assumed his current position in 2001.

He serves on the area advisory board for Regions Financial Corporation.  He also serves on the board of directors for Birmingham City Stages, St. Vincent’s Foundation, A+ College Ready Foundation, Birmingham Zoo and Birmingham Metropolitan Development Board.  He is leading the $30 million capital campaign for Miles College.

Spencer graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and also completed the Executive Finance and Accounting Program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  He and his wife, Lynne, live in Birmingham with their two children, Dylan and Emily, and are members of Liberty Park Baptist Church.

A Decatur native, Crosswhite is senior vice president and general counsel for Alabama Power.  He previously served as senior vice president and general counsel for Southern Company’s generation business unit.  He joined Southern Company in March 2004 after practicing law for 17 years with Balch & Bingham, LLP in Birmingham, where he was a partner.

Crosswhite is on the board of directors for Baptist Health Foundation and the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, where he also serves on the executive committee and is vice chairman for the chamber’s education and workforce development committee.  He serves on the board of directors for Laps for CF Foundation.  He is vice chair of the Electricity Committee of the Public Utility, Communications and Transportation section of the American Bar Association.  Crosswhite is a member of the Edison Electric Institute legal committee and is a member of the Alabama State Bar, Birmingham Bar Association and the Energy Bar Association.

He received his bachelor’s degree in 1984 from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, where he graduated magna cum laude. He earned his Juris Doctor in 1987 from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was a member of Order of the Coif, senior editor of Alabama Law Review, a Hugo Black Scholar and a recipient of the M. Leigh Harrison Award. He and his wife, Jane Emily, have two sons.

Martin is a native of Birmingham and is vice president of Alabama Power’s Southern Division, based in Montgomery. He previously served as manager of external affairs at Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing and at Alabama Power, and as the Company’s government relations representative in Washington, D.C.  Before joining Alabama Power, Martin was an attorney with Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C. and was a legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin.

He is chairman of the board of both the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce and the Riverfront Development Foundation and is on the Montgomery board of directors for Colonial Bank.  He is president of the board of directors for the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and immediate past chairman of the board of trustees for The American Village.  He serves on the board of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Children’s Museum of Alabama and the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Foundation.
 
Martin is a cum laude graduate of the University of Alabama, where he was elected president of the Student Government Association.  He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Alabama and a Master of Public Administration from George Washington University.  He has completed executive coursework at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford University in England.

He is married to the former Margret Harned and they have four children.

Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO), provides reliable, affordable electricity to more than 1.4 million customers across the state.

 

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Media Contact: Carrie Kurlander, 1-205-4155 or ckurland@southernco.com