Leaving legacy of service, Crosswhite to retire as Alabama Power CEO

Alabama Power President and CEO Mark Crosswhite is set to retire at the end of the year, the electric utility announced Monday.

Crosswhite, who led Alabama Power for more than eight years, described his tenure with the company as being “the high point of my career.”

“It has been an honor working for a company that for more than a century has been dedicated to serving communities across Alabama,” said Crosswhite in a release. “As I approach my 60th birthday, though, I have come to realize it is time for me to spend more time with my family.”

Tom Fanning, Southern Company chairman, president and CEO, lauded Crosswhite for his years of dedicated service to the company and Yellowhammer State.

“Mark has spent a lifetime in service to his home state of Alabama through his work dedicated to the numerous charitable, civic and nonprofit causes he champions,” said Fanning. “As the leader of Alabama Power Company, one of Alabama’s great corporate institutions, he carried with him each and every day that sense of service as he worked to improve the lives of customers, communities and colleagues.

“The entire Southern Company system has benefited greatly from Mark’s expertise, wisdom and citizenship in helping build the future of energy for the betterment of millions of lives across the country.

“I wish Mark, his wife, Jane Emily, their two sons and the entire Crosswhite family nothing but the best during retirement.”

Crosswhite’s successor will be named later, according to Alabama Power.

Considered an industry thought leader among the state’s business community, Crosswhite took an innovative approach to meeting the needs Alabama Power’s employees and customer base. Displaying his commitment to Alabama Power’s robust workforce, Crosswhite worked alongside company associates in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Crosswhite’s emphasis on fostering a culture of excellent labor relations earned him recognition from North America’s Building Trades Unions, who named the company CEO its apprenticeship readiness national spokesperson in 2019 and 2020.

He also oversaw the launch of Alabama Power’s Council on Culture and Inclusion in an effort to ensure respect and fairness was provided to the employees of the utility company, which holds a workforce of more than 3,000.

Spearheading vital workforce and economic development efforts, Crosswhite developed longstanding relationships with industry partners that will prove to be of long-term benefit for the state. The Alabama Power head coordinated with state government and industry leaders such as the Business Council of Alabama, Innovate Alabama and Prosper to forge meaningful partnerships vital to economic growth.

Relating to Prosper, Crosswhite collaborated with Birmingham area leaders to launch the initiative which aims to spur investment and grow an inclusive regional economy. He currently serves as chairman of the Prosper board of directors.

During his tenure at Alabama Power, Crosswhite oversaw the company’s strategic initiative to help expand statewide broadband access. His efforts led to the company being named by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) as the nation’s best advocacy campaign by a large utility.

In April 2020, Crosswhite was selected to represent Alabama Power in advisory role to the White House as part of the federal government’s effort to reopen the American economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Decatur native, Crosswhite assumed the role of president and CEO of Alabama Power in March 2014. Prior to leading Alabama’s largest utility company, he served as chief operating officer at Southern Company, the parent company of Alabama Power.

From 2010 to 2012, Crosswhite served as president and CEO of Florida-based Gulf Power, which was formerly a Southern Company subsidiary.

Before his time at Gulf Power, Crosswhite served as executive vice president for external affairs at Alabama Power. In this role, he directed regulatory affairs, economic and community development, public relations, environmental affairs and governmental affairs.

Crosswhite began his career at Alabama Power in 2006 as senior vice president and counsel, a role in which he oversaw the company’s legal operation.

Two years prior, he joined Southern Company as senior vice president and general counsel for Southern Company Generation. Crosswhite represented the company in private practice for 17 years before serving Southern Company in an official capacity.

Crosswhite, whose family roots in Alabama hail from the early 19th century, earned a bachelor’s degree in 1984 from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a juris doctor from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1987.

Throughout the years, Crosswhite has demonstrated his commitment to community service through membership on numerous corporate, civic and nonprofit boards.

For his efforts, Crosswhite has received multiple honors, including the UAH Alumni of Achievement Award, A.G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club’s A.G. Gaston Vision Award, the Alabama Organized Labor Awards Foundation Friend of Labor, and the Birmingham Business Journal’s 2020 Executive of the Decade.

Crosswhite is co-chair of Gov. Kay Ivey’s 2023 inaugural committee.

Dylan Smith is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL