Southern Company’s Chris Womack returns home, addresses Greenville leaders
Chris Womack, executive vice president and president of external affairs for Southern Company and a native of Greenville, Ala., is the guest speaker at the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce Member Banquet on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. Womack, left, visits with Leslie Sanders, vice president of Alabama Power Co.'s Southern Division, before the start of the banquet. (Mike Kittrell/Alabama NewsCenter)
Dream big.
Collaborate, especially across imaginary city, county and even state lines.
And never be afraid to cause a little disruption when it’s the right thing to do.
Chris Womack’s words drew thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the capacity crowd gathered Feb. 18 for the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2016 Member Banquet, but the receiving line that formed for him immediately following illustrated the true depth of the Southern Company executive’s resonance with his hometown.
Womack, executive vice president and president of External Affairs for the utility giant, might live in Atlanta these days, but his heart remains in Greenville, he said, because it nurtured and prepared him for the C suite in ways few who grew up outside of tight-knit communities will ever understand.
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“Thank you for what you’ve done for me and what you continue to do to make sure this community doesn’t just continue to grow but thrives. There are no limitations to where you can go, no limitations to what you can be from right here in Greenville, Ala.,” he said.
From a hearty handshake for a businessman excited about economic development in the Butler County city of 8,100, to a former high school guidance counselor recounting a conversation more than three decades ago, Womack spent far longer immersed in the crowd than he did at the podium, leaning in to listen intently to every single smiling face that extended a hand or offered a hug.
“Let’s all come together and do things together and do things for the betterment of this community … Let’s embrace it all because that’s the world we live in. It may be different from what we are, but let’s respect it. It’s doable. If I’ve done it, anybody can do it,” Womack said.
After graduating from Greenville High School, Womack earned his bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University in 1979. He returned home that summer unsure of his next step beyond knowing that standing still was not an option.
“In 1979, I exited on 130 headed to Washington, D.C., with no idea what was going to happen to me in my life, but I had an incredible foundation that was developed here in Greenville. There’s no doubt my faith in God was an important part of my life, but He also gave me the ability and the intestinal fortitude to say, ‘I can do what I want to do,’” Womack said.
Within six weeks he began working for U.S. Rep. Leon Panetta, D-California. Panetta went on to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to 2011 and as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2011 to 2013.
Instincts, Womack said, guided his eight-year stint in California – far from home and immersed in a political landscape from which he was eager to learn – and “have served me through the rest of my life.”
“Even when you have no idea where you’re going to end up … you do have what’s inside you. You have to have faith and let what’s inside you drive you to realize those dreams,” he said.
In 1988, Womack joined Southern Company as a governmental affairs representative for Alabama Power. Since that time he has held management and executive positions, including senior vice president of Human Resources and chief people officer for Southern Company as well as senior vice president and senior production officer of Southern Company Generation.
In his current role, which he has held since 2009, he directs the company’s public policy strategies and oversees its federal and state governmental and Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Communications.
And although his remarks touched on the pending merger between Southern Company and AGL Resources that will create the second-largest utility company in the nation serving nine million customers in nine states, Womack focused the lion’s share of his message on the power of cooperation in attracting and retaining economic development.
“It becomes a question of how do we create jobs and facilitate economic activity to make people’s lives better?” he said, recounting a Southern Company meeting where executives discussed obstacles to progress.
Chris Womack, executive vice president and president of external affairs for Southern Company and a native of Greenville, Ala., is the guest speaker at the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce Member Banquet on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. (Mike Kittrell/Alabama NewsCenter)
“We know that strong leadership and culture are part of ensuring things keep moving forward, but we talked specifically about how important it is that we embrace technology and the next generation. It’s about looking past our own selfish interests,” Womack said, adding, “Southern Company and Alabama Power, we do great business. We have an incredible commitment to provide an incredible service … but we also have to make sure wherever we work – wherever we live – we make lives better. We are committed to being citizens wherever we serve.”
He said Alabama Power has long taken a lead in economic recruitment efforts because a strong economic base serves all citizens. He applauded Greenville officials for looking past their geographic borders to leverage the power of partnerships toward progress.
“Working together is an invaluable piece of the puzzle. You expand the resource base … and it allows communities to compete in an economic space they wouldn’t otherwise have access to,” Womack said.
“Economic development is a process and a commitment, but it’s also about bringing jobs to a community, about attracting jobs to make people’s lives better … We live, work and play in a global economy and we must commit ourselves to economic development,” he said.
Womack reminded his audience that progress does not typically occur without disruption, and said his big dreams would have never been realized without sidestepping social norms from time to time in the name of what’s right.
Chris Womack, executive vice president and president of external affairs for Southern Company and a native of Greenville, Ala., is the guest speaker at the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce Member Banquet on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. Womack, left, visits with David Sanders, project manager for Alabama Power Co., before the start of the banquet. (Mike Kittrell/Alabama NewsCenter)
Born in 1958, he shared two childhood instances of ignoring his hometown’s then-segregated construct “because it was the right thing to do.” One involved using a restricted restroom because the one the law dictated was out of order. Common sense – and decency – prevailed, he said.
The other incident involved petitioning a doctor to tend to his mother’s ailing health as she sat ignored while white patients received care.
“Stories like this make people uncomfortable. I don’t care. For me, (these actions) were instinctive. I thought it was the right thing to do,” he said.
“You have to dream big, even if you have no idea where that dream is going to take you. It’s that vision that sets you down the road, and then you commit yourself and work hard. Everything we’ve talked about tonight is really very simple: It’s about building relationships, dreaming big, never giving up, working hard and being committed to things bigger than you could ever imagine,” Womack said.
