Mark Crosswhite, like most people, will never be mistaken for a natural in front of a video camera. But at a January shoot at Martin Retail Group on Birmingham’s Southside, the chief operating officer of Southern Company is a game subject.

He pores over the script before filming. He bounces on the balls of his feet and sips a bottle of water between takes. He apologizes to the crew when he flubs a line, joking at one point about the need for a cattle prod to help him get it right.

Finally, his torture is over, not just for this day, but bringing to an end weeks of shooting videos that will be shared online with employees. Tim Best, Martin’s creative director, joins Crosswhite in front of the camera and hands him a brown paper-wrapped package. Crosswhite tears off the bow and ribbon and rips through the paper to reveal a framed, autographed photograph of David Lee Roth, front man for the rock band Van Halen. On the back, an inscription from Best reads: “Do good with all your heart, but rock with all your soul.”

The gift is an ode to Crosswhite’s teenage years when Van Halen was his favorite band. As Crosswhite prepares to take on a new job, the creative director’s advice somehow is fitting.

Crosswhite believes deeply in Alabama Power and its ability to do good, and he plans – to put it in Best’s terms – to rock with all his soul as the company’s new president and chief executive officer. In Crosswhite’s white-collar world, that means he is going to do everything he can to ensure Alabama Power’s continued success and have fun while he’s at it.

On Monday, Feb. 10, the board of directors of Alabama Power named Crosswhite the new president and CEO of the company, effective March1. Crosswhite, 51, follows Charles McCrary, who is retiring after more than 12 years at the helm.

“One of the toughest parts about this job will be succeeding Charles McCrary,” Crosswhite says. “Charles has been an instrumental figure in Alabama Power’s history. He has been a leader in this state. It’s going to be really big shoes to fill.”

Alabama Power’s Zeke Smith, who has known Crosswhite since they “were young pups” more than two decades ago, likens the task facing the new CEO to a younger coach taking over for a retiring legend. Things can go wrong in a hurry if the younger coach fails to respect the legacy, says Smith, who succeeded Crosswhite as executive vice president of External Affairs in 2008. That won’t happen with Alabama Power’s new CEO, Smith says.

“He’s not going to make the mistake that others have made when following great coaches,” he says. “He’s not coming in trying to tear down what has been built. He will take it and build it from where it is today.”

Crosswhite accepts the challenge of building the company’s future with an eye toward respecting its past. The University of Alabama at Huntsville graduate, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history, has been rereading Leah Rawls Atkins’ sprawling account of Alabama Power, “Developed for the Service of Alabama.”

In Alabama Power’s early days, Crosswhite says, “it was a startup company hanging on by the thinnest of threads. Look at what Alabama Power is now. I’m very, very honored to be in this new role. Charles and the whole management team got it in great position. The company is stronger than ever.”

Crosswhite says he plans to keep the company moving in the right direction. When future historians look back on his tenure, “I hope they will say I left it in better shape.”

Crosswhite takes over Alabama Power after a challenging year. In early 2013, the state Public Service Commission began a series of public meetings for Mobile Gas, Alabama Power and Alagasco. In Alabama Power’s case, the PSC modified the Rate Stabilization and Equalization formula under which the company is regulated, resulting in a reduction in the amount of revenue raised if rates are increased under RSE.

Smith says Crosswhite will have to deal with more of the same in coming years.

“The challenges I think he’ll face are in areas outside the walls of this building where folks are trying to create a new world order we don’t necessarily agree with,” Smith says, referring to the groups that opposed Alabama Power in the PSC meetings.

Crosswhite expects other challenges, such as tougher environmental regulations, slowing load growth and fierce competition for economic development, but he is extremely confident about the company’s future.

“We’re not going to be the makers of buggy whips,” he says. “I don’t know what customers will want in 50 years, but we want to be developing and providing it.”

In the short run, not much will change after Crosswhite takes over, he says.

“Don’t expect a sea change. It will be the same path we’ve been going,” Crosswhite says. “I don’t think there are significant differences of view between Charles and me.”

That said, he hints at changes without revealing any specific plans. Some of those who are close to Crosswhite say they expect him to respect the legacy of his predecessors even as he makes his own way.

“Mark will take advantage of and continue the legacy Charles built on the tried and true things that work,” Smith says. “He’s not going to mess with that.”

At the same time, says longtime Balch & Bingham lawyer Rod Mundy, who retired as Alabama Power’s general counsel in 2006, Crosswhite is “going to tweak things, and hopefully do things better if there are things to be done better. You can always sharpen your edge.”

Crosswhite’s appointment is the culmination of almost three decades of working, in one form or another, for Alabama Power and Southern Company.

The son of a “rocket scientist” and a school teacher, Crosswhite grew up in Decatur and worked summers at Point Mallard, a water theme park, for six years through high school and college at UAH, until he went to the University of Alabama School of Law. The last several of those Point Mallard years, Crosswhite was a maintenance man, responsible for operating the park’s pools.

While in law school, Crosswhite worked summers at Balch & Bingham. His first project involved Alabama Power. He was hooked.

When Crosswhite earned his law degree, Balch & Bingham came calling with a job offer. Crosswhite worked at Balch for 17 years in the firm’s Energy Section, handling many complex cases for Alabama Power in state and federal agencies and courts.

Crosswhite left Balch in 2004 to become senior vice president and general counsel for Southern Company Generation. Two years later, he followed Mundy as Alabama Power’s senior vice president and counsel – what Crosswhite believed was his dream job.
“I was 44 at that time,” he says. “I thought I’ll be here till I retire.”

Instead, in 2008, McCrary informed him he would be the new executive vice president over External Affairs, following Steve Spencer’s promotion to executive vice president over the Customer Service Organization.

“I was floored,” Crosswhite says. “I never saw that coming. Fortunately, Steve left things in great shape and was always there when I needed advice.”

Crosswhite was used to being a lawyer in a support role. Now, he says, he was “on the tip of the spear.” Crosswhite says he enjoyed his time in External Affairs, which ultimately proved to be invaluable in preparing him to become Alabama Power’s CEO. After a few years in External Affairs, though, Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Tom Fanning wanted Crosswhite to become Gulf Power’s CEO.

Crosswhite moved to Pensacola, Fla., in January 2011. He speaks fondly of his time at Gulf, although his honeymoon was short. By May, he was dealing with a rate case and being “raked over the coals.” Even so, the case turned out well for the company.

Crosswhite worked at Gulf for 18 months before heading home to Birmingham after being named Southern Company’s chief operating officer in 2012. In that role, he worked with Generation, Transmission, Engineering & Construction Services, Research & Environmental Affairs, System Planning, Southern Wholesale Energy, Fleet Operations & Trading, and Southern Power Company.

“Working with the Operations team, I learned a lot about the more technical side of our business – how we make, move and sell electricity,” Crosswhite says.

Now, he will become Alabama Power’s 11th leader in its 108-year history. What is it about Crosswhite that makes him the right fit?

Mundy says he knew early on Crosswhite was a special talent. “I think he’s got every trait, personality, training and background you could ever want for any job in the Southern system,” Mundy says. “I’ve always known he was going to the top of whatever he did.”

Leslie Sanders, Southern Division vice president, points to Crosswhite’s legal, external and system experience. “His history has demonstrated that he emphasizes the core values our company currently has,” says Sanders, who worked with Crosswhite when she was in Governmental Affairs. “He truly values his employees, wants to be the best in customer service and has handled external issues in a fair, ethical manner.”

Susan Livingston, a partner at Balch & Bingham who had an office next to Crosswhite for years, describes him as a “very bright, hardworking attorney who could handle any issue that arose. Mark was the first one at work every day and usually the last to leave.” Or as Mundy puts it: “He’d already been working several hours before the rest of us stumbled in there and had our coffee.”

Mundy, whom Crosswhite describes as a mentor, says one of Crosswhite’s best talents is his preparation. “If you go into a meeting with him, you had better be ready.”

John Hudson, vice president of Public Relations, says Crosswhite impressed him with “his ability to convert complex ideas and concepts into information that easily could be understood.”

“I saw that ability quite often when he would take the time to explain complicated regulatory decisions to the public relations team as we were preparing to talk to media outlets,” Hudson says.

Birmingham Division Vice President Bobbie Knight says working with Crosswhite is easy. “He’s a good listener and he seeks to understand,” says Knight, who was the vice president for Public Relations when Crosswhite was in charge of External Affairs. “I was always confident that he supported me and my co-workers and had a genuine concern for this company and its employees.”

Smith describes Crosswhite as smart, wise, a quick learner, calm, thoughtful and confident. “There’s no question he’s willing to make the tough calls,” he says. With Crosswhite, what you see is what you get, according to Smith.

“He’s very transparent,” Smith says. “He has a self-deprecating kind of way about him that invites diversity of thought, and acceptance that people can communicate and weigh in with him.”

Crosswhite says he wants employees to feel comfortable with him and know that he is accessible. “If there’s some way I can help them in their job, I want them to reach out to me, whether they stop by the 18th floor or they send me an email or they call me. I want them to know they can reach me.”

When Crosswhite talks about Alabama Power employees, he raves. Of his management team, he says: “They are the best there is.” On employees in general: “I think they’re the absolute greatest.”

On union employees: “The company and the Brotherhood have been working closely together for many years, and that relationship could hardly be better.”

And on the company: “It is the best company I know of, it really is.

“When I think about the future for Alabama Power, I’m really excited,” Crosswhite says. “The company is in a great position, but it’s going to get even better. I think the best is yet to come.”