WACO, Texas, Feb. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The American
Football Coaches Foundation® today announced that Tom Fanning, Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Southern Company, is the 2018 recipient of its
CEO Coach of the Year® Award.
This is the highest honor bestowed by the organization, whose
inaugural recipient in 2006 was Jeffrey R.
Immelt, former CEO of General Electric. Other former winners
include: Former Domino's Pizza CEO David
Brandon (2007); former MidAmerican Energy Holdings CEO
David Sokol (2008); former HP CEO
Mark Hurd (2009); FedEx Corp.
Chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith
(2010); BP Capital L.P. Chairman and CEO T.
Boone Pickens (2011); NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (2012); former ExxonMobil Chairman
and CEO Rex W. Tillerson (2013);
AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall
Stephenson (2014); Berkshire Hathaway Energy Chairman and
CEO Greg Abel (2015) and former
Honeywell Chairman and CEO David
Cote (2016).
"I am honored to receive the 2018 CEO Coach of the Year Award
and join such an amazing group of recipients," Fanning said. "My
fondest memories are recalled from the decades I spent coaching
youth sports. While the goal was to guide my teams to victory, the
purpose was to teach the athletes principles such as teamwork,
discipline and leadership to prepare them to become the type of
citizens who make our communities a better place to live because
they are there. Thank you to the American Football Coaches
Foundation and the entire membership and staff of the American
Football Coaches Association for this tremendous honor."
Fanning was selected for the award by a unanimous vote of the
AFCF® Board of Directors. He will be honored at The Foundation's
CEO Coach of the Year Dinner, held at the Georgia Aquarium in
Atlanta on April 23, 2018.
"Tom Fanning is one of the best
CEOs in America and his leadership at Southern Company is moving
the needle on the future of energy," AFCA Executive Director
Todd Berry said. "The AFCF Board of
Directors voted him our 2018 AFCF CEO Coach of the Year for a
reason. He is one of the great business leaders in our country, and
as a former coach and player, he knows the impact coaches can have
on our society."
Fanning was elected president of Southern Company in July of
2010, and took over the additional responsibilities of chairman and
CEO in December 2010. He has been
with Southern Company for over 35 years and has held 15 different
positions under eight different business units during that time.
Before being named chairman, president and CEO, Fanning served as
chief operating officer, where he was responsible for Southern
Company's generation and transmission, engineering and construction
services, research and environmental affairs, system planning and
competitive generation business units. He was also responsible for
the business strategy of Southern Company and was director of
Southern Nuclear, Southern Company's nuclear plant operating
company.
Prior to being COO, Fanning was the company's chief financial
officer where he was responsible for the accounting, finance, tax,
investor relations, treasury and risk management functions. In that
position, he was the chief risk officer and was responsible for
corporate strategy. Before being named CFO, Fanning was the
president and CEO of Gulf Power.
Fanning does a lot work away from the Southern Company boardroom
as he serves on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank
of Atlanta. He also serves on the
board of directors of Vulcan Materials Company and is a member of
the Business Roundtable. Fanning is on the advisory board of the
Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, the board of trustees of
the Georgia Tech Foundation, the board of directors of the
Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and the regional governing
board of the World Association of Nuclear Operators' Atlanta
Centre.
Fanning is co-chair of the Electricity Subsector Coordinating
Council, which serves as the principal liaison between the federal
government and the electric power sector to protect the electric
grid from threats that could impact national security, including
cyber and physical terrorism as well as natural disasters. He is
also a member of the international advisory board of the Atlantic
Council, which promotes constructive leadership and engagement in
international affairs, and the American Energy Innovation Council,
a group of America's leading business executives working to build
broad bipartisan support for public and private investments in
innovation.
Fanning earned bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial
management and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree
from Georgia Tech.
The funds raised from the CEO Coach of the Year dinner will
support the AFCF's educational initiatives through the American
Football Coaches Association's publications, website and annual
convention. More than 6,000 football coaches from all levels attend
the annual convention, and more than 11,000 football coaches
globally benefit through personal, technical and leadership
development. Because of The Foundation, football coaches on all
levels nationwide pay minimal membership dues.
The AFCF, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was established by
the American Football Coaches Association in 1998 to fund its
educational mission. Its specific responsibility is to seek
contributions from a broad range of donors – friends, businesses,
corporations foundations and trusts – to support and implement
existing AFCA educational programs; and to develop exciting and
dynamic new initiatives that will serve the coaches, the
student-athletes and the schools they represent. Contributions
generated by The Foundation will ensure that the coaching community
will continue to have the finest possible professional development
and educational tools, now and in the future.
About Southern Company
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is America's premier energy company,
with 46,000 megawatts of generating capacity and 1,500 billion
cubic feet of combined natural gas consumption and throughput
volume serving 9 million customers through its subsidiaries. The
company provides clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy
through electric operating companies in four states, natural gas
distribution companies in seven states, a competitive generation
company serving wholesale customers across America and a nationally
recognized provider of customized energy solutions, as well as
fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands
are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and
affordable prices that are below the national average. Through an
industry-leading commitment to innovation, Southern Company and its
subsidiaries are inventing America's energy future by developing
the full portfolio of energy resources, including carbon-free
nuclear, 21st century coal, natural gas, renewables and energy
efficiency, and creating new products and services for the benefit
of customers. Southern Company has been named by the U.S.
Department of Defense and G.I. Jobs magazine as a top military
employer, recognized among the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by
DiversityInc, listed by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the 40
Best Companies for Diversity and designated a Top Employer for
Hispanics by Hispanic Network. The company has earned a National
Award of Nuclear Science and History from the National Atomic
Museum Foundation for its leadership and commitment to nuclear
development and is continually ranked among the top energy
companies in Fortune's annual World's Most Admired Electric and Gas
Utility rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.
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SOURCE Southern Company