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Chris Womack is the president and CEO of Southern Company, an Atlanta-based energy company with an annual revenue of $22.4 billion in 2021. Furthermore, the corporation serves approximately nine million customers. Womack’s position at Southern Company places him among the current eight Black CEOs of Fortune 500 businesses.
Prior to his present position, the 65-year-old served as the chairman, president, and CEO of Georgia Power, the Southern Company’s largest affiliate. He formerly served as Southern Company’s executive vice president and president of foreign affairs.
The Greenville, Alabama native began his career with Southern Company in 1988, ascending through the ranks to the position he presently holds. Prior to that, he worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for the United States House of Representatives. He worked as a legislative adviser to former Congressman Leon E. Panetta and as the staff director for the House Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel and Police.
Womack’s talent has led to his appointment to a number of boards. He has served on the boards of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Atlanta Sports Council. He has also served on the boards of Communities in Schools of Georgia, the United States Chamber of Commerce, Essential Utilities, Inc., Georgia Ports Authority, and Invesco Ltd.
Womack grew raised in Greenville, Alabama, roughly 50 miles south of Montgomery, with his grandmother. He just remembers spending time with his grandmother gardening, shooting, and fishing. They also had a poultry farm in the background and planted okra, greens, corn, beans, and other vegetables.
According to him, he learned very early to value simple things in life and to appreciate the value of a strong work ethic like doing right all the time and getting along with people. “My grandmother always said that if I worked hard and played by the rules, I could accomplish whatever I set out to achieve. And my mother was a teacher, so there was a commitment in our family to the importance of education,” he told Excoleadership.
“I share some of those beliefs inside our company — that if you do a good job with the job you have, if you get along well with others, and if you prepare yourself by being a good student of the business, there’s a good chance you will get more opportunities. That’s how it’s played out for me,” he added.
A protest leader during his school days, Womack said there were not enough Black leaders he could find as role models. He noted that those he saw growing up were either preaching or teaching.
“My mother wanted me to be a teacher and I did some student teaching after college and realized it was not what I wanted to do. I did not have the patience for that and I never felt that calling to be a preacher. So I learned by watching other people’s approaches to leadership,” he said.
Womack graduated from Western Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from American University. At Clark Atlanta University, he is also pursuing a doctorate in political science.
