Southern Company
Tom Fanning is the just-retired CEO of Southern Company.
Who is Tom Fanning? For those of us at Public Utilities Fortnightly, the question is like asking, who was Owen Young? For as was Young in his time, Fanning in our time has set the pace for the utilities industry and then reached beyond to lead on national policies.
PUF traveled to Atlanta, to get the take of Fanning's colleagues at Southern Company, CEO Chris Womack, Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene, and Southern Company Gas CEO Jim Kerr, about the mark Fanning made. We interviewed Fanning too, to learn further, who is this man who had a Young-size impact for us all?
PUF's Steve Mitnick: How did you come to this industry?
Tom Fanning: I accepted an appointment to West Point and was going to try and play football there. Five days before I was supposed to report for Beast Barracks, I rolled my ankle and broke it, so I couldn't go.
I was a National Merit Scholar, I had turned down all these scholarships to other places, and just turned to Georgia Tech, and they were nice enough to say, "Come here for a year." I started out as a math major.