Mississippi Power Company’s Board of Directors has named Anthony Topazi as president and CEO, replacing Mike Garrett. Garrett is leaving to become president of Georgia Power. Both moves will be effective January 1.

Topazi becomes the Gulfport-based company’s tenth president in its 78-year history. He comes to his new position from Southern Company Generation & Energy Marketing, where he was executive vice president, responsible for Southern Company’s energy trading and wholesale marketing, as well as its fuel services and generation planning and development departments. He also served as senior vice president of Southern Power, the newest Southern Company subsidiary, which owns and manages new generation assets dedicated to the wholesale markets.

Topazi joined Alabama Power in 1969 as a cooperative education student engineer. He held a number of positions at Alabama, including Western Division Vice President and Birmingham Division Vice President. While at the Western Division, he also served as chairman of the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority and had a primary role in recruiting the first Mercedes Benz automotive assembly plant outside of Germany to the state of Alabama.

A Birmingham native, Topazi earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University and also completed the advanced management program at Harvard University. He has been active in numerous civic and charitable organizations in and around Birmingham and central Alabama.

Garrett, whose 35-year career at Southern Company began as an entry-level co-op student at Georgia Power, came to Mississippi Power in 2001. He has also been active in civic and statewide organizations, serving as chairman of the Mississippi Partnership for Economic Development and on the board of directors of the Mississippi Economic Council (the state chamber). He also served as chairman of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce and campaign chair of the United Way of South Mississippi.

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, serves more than 192,000 customers in 23 southeastern Mississippi counties.

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