Power CEO Mark Crosswhite
On his first day working as a summer clerk for an Alabama law firm, Mark Crosswhite was told to go work with the utility section. He “had a blast,” but little did he know that would start his journey to becoming CEO and president of Gulf Power Company.
Power CEO Mark Crosswhite President and CEO, Gulf Power Company by Linda Kleindienst
On his first day working as a summer clerk for an Alabama law firm, Mark Crosswhite was told to go work with the utility section. He “had a blast,” but little did he know that would start his journey to becoming CEO and president of Gulf Power Company.
Crosswhite, 48, joined that law firm after graduation, but soon found himself working for Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity, which owns Alabama Power, Gulf Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Soon he was general counsel for Alabama Power.
“Given my background, I thought that was my dream job,” he laughingly says now, a couple of jobs later, adding, “With every one of my jobs, I’ve had to reset the bar for what a ‘dream job’ is.”
Gulf Power has no immediate plans to build another generating plant, but the company has purchased land in northern Escambia County for future expansion.
“(At Southern Company) we are firm believers we need to keep all the arrows in the quiver,” says Crosswhite. “We need to have a viable nuclear energy program, viable natural gas option, modern coal, renewable energy and efficiency options.”
1. iPad or Kindle:
Both. I use the Kindle reader because it is portable and you can adjust the font. I can read it when I exercise on my stationary bike for 45 minutes every morning. I use the iPad mostly for work.
2. College Major: History.
It’s what I enjoyed. The areas I enjoyed the most were Roman History and the English Middle Ages. Very random, like most things in my life.
3. First Job:
Cutting grass and doing yard work when I was 12 and 13 years old. But at 16 I was the maintenance man at Point Mallard, a water theme park in my hometown. It had a wave pool and I actually got to be in charge of the wave pool and make the waves. I’ve had a varied career.
4. Favorite Team: Alabama. I went to school at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
5. Describe Yourself: There are a lot of words I’d aspire to, but I can bring it down to one word. Fortunate. I’m fortunate to have a great wife, a great family, a great job doing something I love and working with great people. Electricity is one of the marvels of the modern age. I’m proud to be associated with it.
6. Hero: There are a lot of historical folks I’d like to meet, like Julius Caesar. He always captured my imagination. He changed the world with what he did. He took some gambles he had no business taking, but he was confident in himself and he believed he was lucky, that fortune would smile on him. He would make big bets and they paid off.
7. Best Advice: Be yourself. I’ve been given big shoes to fill. But I can’t be Susan (Story). All I can be is Mark. A number of folks have told me, “Just be yourself.”
8. Parents: My father worked for the Army as a rocket scientist and my mother was a school teacher.
9. Author: I like almost
everything Barbara Tuchman has written. I’m currently reading “Operation Mincemeat” by Ben Macintyre.
10. Hobbies: I do read a lot, most of it histories or mysteries. I like to quail hunt. I really enjoy the access to water here, boating, kayaking, spending time outside with the family. My favorite way to relax is probably reading.
