Southern Company
Tom Fanning is Executive Chair of Southern Company.
In honoring Kuhn with Public Utilities Fortnightly's highest award, named for the extraordinary industry leader of a hundred years ago — Owen Young — we salute the man behind the transformational "Power by Association." We do this not alone. What follows are the voices of a dozen of the industry's top leaders of the twenty-first century, about Kuhn's accomplishments, and the man himself. Including four utility Executive Chairs, three utility CEOs, four retired utility CEOs, and Kuhn's longtime key associate at EEI, David Owens.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: Talk about your experiences with Tom Kuhn, as you were coming up the line at Southern Company and started to interact with his team at EEI.
Tom Fanning: I've known Tom for twenty-five years or more. Southern Company has always viewed EEI as a crucial partner in working with other companies in our industry to help shape effective national energy policy.
So, Tom Kuhn became an individual that I grew to know and appreciate well, over time. As our relationship matured, as I stepped into my role as CEO and Chairman of Southern, I expanded into things like leading the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council, the ESCC, and helped lead the industry on national response events. Tom became a central Washington figure in my life.