|
McCrary Named Alabama Power President
PRNewswire
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
Alabama Power's board of directors tonight named Southern Company Generation President and Birmingham native Charles D. McCrary as the company's new president and chief operating officer. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010426/ATTH044 ) The announcement was made by Elmer B. Harris, who said, "I decided it is important to begin now an orderly and timely transition to the next generation of leadership for our company. "No one is better qualified to lead this company than Charles McCrary," Harris said. "Over a lifetime at Alabama Power and Southern Co., Charles has demonstrated both a deep commitment and a proven ability to serve our customers and our communities." During the transition, Harris said he will remain as chairman and CEO. Harris also said he was establishing a new Office of the Chairman from which he and McCrary will jointly direct the company. McCrary, 49, has served the past three years as president of Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing and as chief production officer for Southern Co., which serves more than four million customers in the Southeast. In that role, he also served as president of Southern Power Co., which he established to expand generation both inside and outside the company's traditional service territory, and as president of Southern Electric Railroad Co. Inc., the nation's largest privately owned railroad. Southern uses the railroad to deliver fuel to its generating plants. From 1991 to 1998, McCrary headed external affairs at Alabama Power as senior vice president and later as executive vice president. "To return to Alabama Power as its ninth president is both a great honor and challenge," McCrary said. "It is an honor to be asked to lead one of America's mostly highly regarded electric utilities. It is a challenge to assume that leadership at a time of change in the industry, uncertainty in the economy, and great needs in our state. "I pledge to maintain and expand Alabama Power's 95-year commitment to the state -- to our customers, to my fellow employees, and to the communities we serve." McCrary has worked in the Southern Co. system since 1973, handling assignments in engineering, fuels, system planning, and several departments in Alabama Power's Environmental Affairs organization. He also worked as assistant to former Alabama Power President Joseph Farley. Later, he was vice president for administrative services-nuclear with responsibility to help plan and start Southern Nuclear Operating Co. In Birmingham, McCrary chairs the Metropolitan Arts Council and serves on the board of Children's Hospital. Within the utility industry, he is on the national board of the Center for Energy and Economic Development, co-chairman of the Coal Utilization Research Council, and member of the Environmental Policy Committee of the Edison Electric Institute. McCrary's father, Douglas McCrary, is also a former president of a Southern Co. subsidiary, Gulf Power. Douglas McCrary joined Alabama Power in 1953 and was vice president of construction during an era of major expansion. Later he was senior vice president for engineering of Southern Co. From 1983 to 1994, he was president and chief executive officer at Gulf Power, which serves the Florida panhandle. The two McCrarys will be the first father-and-son presidents in the history of Southern Co. McCrary graduated from Birmingham's Shades Valley High School in 1969. He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University in 1973 and a J.D. degree from the Birmingham School of Law in 1978. He is a member of the Alabama State Bar Association. He is married to the former Phyllis Brantley of Birmingham. They have two sons, Doug, a sophomore at Vanderbilt University, and Alex, a senior at Vestavia Hills High School. Alex plans to attend Auburn University this fall. AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467 SOURCE: Alabama Power Contact: Darya Braggs of Alabmama Power, 205-257-4155, or |