ATLANTA, Feb. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning today announced that Kimberly S. Greene has been elected president and CEO of Southern Company Services, Inc. She will also have a seat on the company's management council. Greene will succeed Susan N. Story, who is retiring from Southern Company to become chief financial officer of New Jersey-based American Water. The announced changes will take effect April 1.

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"Susan has been an extraordinary leader at Southern Company," said Fanning. "She rose to the highest ranks of our company, due to her sharp focus on finance, operations and customer service. We call these the 'whats.' But equally important are the 'hows', and Susan Story is world class at both."

Greene is currently executive vice president and chief generation officer of TVA. Previously, Greene served as TVA's chief financial officer, executive vice president of Financial Services and chief risk officer. She was also group president for Strategy and External Relations at TVA.

Prior to joining TVA in 2007, Greene was senior vice president of finance and treasurer at Southern Company, where she began her career.

"Kim is one of us," Fanning said. "We are so fortunate to have her returning to Southern Company. She has demonstrated excellence in nearly every facet of our industry, and our customers and the employees who serve them will benefit from her wide range of expertise."

In her new role, Greene will be responsible for overseeing the company's information technology, human resources, supply chain management, marketing services, business performance services and system aircraft functions, as well as SouthernLINC Wireless, Southern Company's wireless telecommunications provider, and Southern Telecom, the company's wholesale fiber optic network provider. She will also lead efforts surrounding the company's Smart Energy efforts, which include emerging technologies involving energy innovation, energy efficiency and customer energy choices.

Greene earned a bachelor's degree in engineering science and mechanics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She earned a master's degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a master's in business administration from Samford University. She also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Greene is on the advisory boards for the University of Tennessee College of Engineering and the University's Department of Finance. She is also on the board of the Electric Power Research Institute and will assume the chairmanship in April.

A native of Knoxville, Tenn., she and her husband, Ted, have two daughters.

With 4.4 million customers and more than 43,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast through its subsidiaries. A leading U.S. producer of clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for energy innovation, excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national average. Southern Company and its subsidiaries are leading the nation's nuclear renaissance through the construction of the first new nuclear units to be built in a generation of Americans and are demonstrating their commitment to energy innovation through the development of a state-of-the-art coal gasification plant. Southern Company has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense and G.I. Jobs magazine as a top military employer and listed by DiversityInc as a top company for Blacks. The company received the 2012 Edison Award from the Edison Electric Institute for its leadership in new nuclear development, was named Electric Light & Power magazine's Utility of the Year for 2012 and is continually ranked among the top utilities in Fortune's annual World's Most Admired Electric and Gas Utility rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

SOURCE Southern Company