Alabama Power Company President and CEO Charles McCrary has assigned Julia Segars to be vice president of Alabama Power Company’s Eastern Division. She will assume the position immediately, and will fill the position vacated by Ronnie Smith, who is retiring. Segars is currently vice president and chief information officer for Alabama Power and serves as CIO for Southern Nuclear and Southern Company Services-Birmingham.

“Julia is ideally suited to assume this important leadership role in Eastern Division,” said McCrary. “Her understanding of the business coupled with her deep roots in Alabama position her to be a great resource and contributor to Eastern Division.”

Segars has worked in roles of increasing responsibility during the past 20 years with Alabama Power and Southern Company, including manager of workforce development, manager of employee communications and editor of Alabama Power’s employee magazine. She also served as a media spokesperson while working as the assistant to the vice president of Alabama Power’s Birmingham Division.

In 2004, Segars was one of 14 women selected for a one-year fellowship sponsored by the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation, and serves on the board of the Leading Edge Institute, a leadership development program for Alabama college women. She was a member of the 2003 - 2004 of Momentum, a leadership development program for women in leadership positions in the Birmingham area.

Segars is on the editorial advisory board of Information Week magazine; is a past board member of the Alabama Information Technology Association; and serves on the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Information Systems Advisory Council and Auburn University’s Management Information Systems Advisory Council. She also serves on the board of managers for the Virginia Samford Theatre in Birmingham.

She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She and her husband, Frank, have two grown children, Todd and Angie, and two teenaged children, Libby and Tate.

Smith began his career with Alabama Power in 1973 and has served as vice president of the Eastern Division since 1994.

“Ronnie’s vast experience made an invaluable and lasting contribution to the company and the communities he served,” McCrary added. “I sincerely thank him for his leadership and am joined by many employees who wish him well in his retirement.”

Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO), provides reliable, affordable electricity to more than 1.3 million customers across the state.