Baranco, Smith Named to Southern Company Board of Directors

ATLANTA, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southern Company's board of directors has elected two new members, Juanita Baranco and William G. Smith Jr. Baranco is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Baranco Automotive Group. Smith is president and chief executive officer of Capital City Bank Group Inc., and chairman of the board of Capital City Bank.

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Baranco, 56, enjoyed a successful law career, which included serving as assistant attorney general for the state of Georgia, before she and her husband founded the first Baranco dealership in Atlanta in 1978. She served as a member of Georgia Power Company's board of directors from 1997-2006. Georgia Power is a Southern Company subsidiary.

Smith, 52, began his career at Capital City Bank in 1978, where he worked in a number of capacities before being elected president and chief executive officer of Capital City Bank Group in January 1989. He was elected chairman in 2003. He has served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's board of directors since 2001.

The terms of Baranco and Smith on the 10-member board begin Feb. 22, 2006.

"Juanita Baranco and William Smith bring a wealth of business and civic experience to our board. Juanita has been an outstanding member of our Georgia Power Company board for several years, and I have served with Bill on the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta board for a number of years. They are both tremendous additions to our Southern Company board," said Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David Ratcliffe.

A native of Tallahassee, Smith serves on the board of directors for Darlington School in Rome, Ga., and the Florida State University Foundation. He is the former Federal Advisory Council Representative for the Sixth District of the Federal Reserve System and past chair of both Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and the Tallahassee Area Chamber of Commerce. Smith holds a bachelor of science degree from Florida State University.

An active leader in the Atlanta community, Baranco is currently a director of Cox Radio and the Commerce Club. She serves as chair of the board of trustees for Clark Atlanta University and board chair for the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia. She is a former member of the executive committee of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, past chair of the board of regents for the University System of Georgia, and past director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Baranco holds a bachelor of science degree and J.D. from Louisiana State University.

Smith and Baranco will replace departing board members Dan Amos and Bruce Gordon.

With 4.2 million customers and more than 40,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company is the premier super- regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of electricity. Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are 15 percent below the national average. Southern Company has been ranked the nation's top energy utility in the American Customer Satisfaction Index six years in a row. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States. Visit the Southern Company Web site at http://www.southerncompany.com/.

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