Thomas A. Fanning (a.k.a. Tom Fanning) is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Southern Company, the 16th largest utility company in the world and the fourth largest in the United States.
Thomas A. Fanning was born in Morristown, New Jersey.[1] He graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he also received a Master's degree.
Fanning started his career as a Financial Analyst at the Southern Company in 1980.[2] He became the Chief Financial Officer of one of its subsidiaries, Mississippi Power, in 1999, Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of Georgia Power and Alabama Power from 1999 to 2002, and served as President and CEO of another subsidiary, the Gulf Power Company from 2002 to 2003.[2] He was appointed as its Executive Vice President of the Southern Company in 2003.[2] He also served as its Treasurer from 2003 to 2007, and as its Chief Financial Officer 2003 to 2008.[2] Meanwhile, he was appointed as its Chief Operating Officer in 2008.[2]
Fanning has served as the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Southern Company since 2010.[2] In a discussion with the Atlantic Council in 2015, he suggested the energy model of the Southern United States reliant on coal, nuclear energy and natural gas was not under jeopardy "in the near term."[4]
Fanning served on the Board of Directors of the St. Joe Company, a land development company and Florida's second largest private landowner, from 2005 to 2011, when he became its Vice Chairman.[2] He has served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta since 2013. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Vulcan Materials Company, a construction company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.[5] He also serves as the Chairman of the Electric Subsector Coordinating Council and as the Vice Chairman of the Edison Electric Institute.[5]
Fanning is a member of the Business Roundtable.[5]
Southern Company is an American electric utility holding company based in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is currently the 16th largest utility company in the world and the fourth largest in the U.S.[8] Through its subsidiaries it owns and operates more than 42,000 megawatts of generation capacity and serves 4.4 million customers in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.[9] Southern Company’s regulated regional electric utilities serve a 120,000-square-mile (310,000 km2) territory with 27,000 miles (43,000 km) of distribution lines.[9]
