The Southern Company announced the election of Kristine L. Svinicki as an independent director, effective October 17, 2021. Svinicki joins the Business Security and Resiliency Committee and the Operations, Environmental and Safety Committee. The Honorable Kristine Svinicki was appointed a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by three U.S. presidents, becoming that organization's longest-serving member. She was designated chairman of the NRC on January 23, 2017 and stepped down as chairman earlier this year after more than 30 years of public service. Before joining the NRC, Svinicki spent over a decade as a staff member in the U.S. Senate working on issues related to national security; science and technology; and energy and the environment. She also served as a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee where she was responsible for the committee's portfolio of defense science and technology programs and policies, and for the atomic energy defense activities of the U.S. Department of Energy, including nuclear weapons, nuclear security and environmental programs. Previously, Svinicki worked as a nuclear engineer in the U.S. Department of Energy'sWashington, D.C. Offices of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, and of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, as well as its Idaho Operations Office, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Before that, she was an energy engineer with the State of Wisconsin at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission in Madison, Wisconsin.