Seven Southern Company system employees are recognized in the latest issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly magazine’s annual “Fortnightly Under Forty” list.
The special edition salutes “the next generation of up-and-comers in the utilities industry.” Southern Company system employees honored include:
- Walt Farrell, vice president of Community and Economic Development for Georgia Power
- Arnab Ghosal, Grid Inform & Connectivity general manager for Alabama Power
- Brandi Hurst, senior market specialist for Alabama Power
- Ann Barrett Ladner, finance director & assistant treasurer for Mississippi Power
- Robin Lanier, director of renewable gas for Southern Company Gas
- Sunish Mathew, transmission and markets manager for Southern Power
- JR Robinson, manager of Governmental Affairs for Southern Company
They were selected among 80 rising stars from 29 different industry organizations.
Walt Farrell leads the team responsible for recruiting new business to Georgia, as well as supporting local and statewide initiatives that promote community development. Additional areas of focus include workforce development, data analysis including modeling and visualization and engineering with an emphasis on site analysis technologies.
Arnab Ghosal and his team help determine and implement strategic initiatives to improve grid reliability and resiliency. This includes responsibility for communication deployments on the transmission and distribution systems, data analytics, central engineering and AMI technology.
Brandi Hurst leads cross-functional teams spanning numerous groups within Alabama Power and Southern Company, as well as third party vendors. She is currently designing and implementing a portfolio of new energy efficiency and demand-side programs to help reduce peak demand and make energy management more accessible across all customer segments.
Ann Barrett Ladner leads the treasury function and directs the financial planning, financial analysis, forecasting and budgeting departments. She also leads the company’s overall finance activities and financial strategy development.
Robin Lanier leads development, advancement and execution of the company’s renewable gas strategy. She leads a growing team responsible for renewable gas strategic investment, project development and asset management efforts, as well as program design and implementation across multiple jurisdictions.
Sunish Mathew works developing and executing strategies for securing and maintaining long-term deliverability from Southern Power’s generations assets. He manages interconnection and delivery risks related to operating over 12 GW of gas, wind, solar, battery and fuel cell generation in 14 states and nine different energy markets.
JR Robinson handles an extensive portfolio of legislative issues on the federal level, as well as managing partnerships with entities outside the company and telecom issues. He recently advocated for a middle-mile program funded by the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Congratulations to Walt, Arnab, Brandi, Ann, Robin, Sunish and JR.
Public Utilities Fortnightly is the flagship publication under Public Utilities Reports, Inc., a leading provider of industry news in the electric, natural gas, water and telecommunications industries for more than 85 years.