Southern Company CEO Chris Womack (left) sits with Chuck Faush (right) to discuss his early life in Alabama, his career and believe in corporate and personal civic action. (AL.com/ Contributed)
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By Joseph D. Bryant | jbryant@al.com
As a child growing up in rural south Alabama in the 1960s, Chris Womack had not seen a building taller than two stories, nor did he know what a corporate CEO was.
But the Greenville native was given advice from his grandmother that shaped his future and continues to guide him personally and professionally.
“She never allowed me or my brothers to be limited by anything. Not to be limited by restrictions because of my race or because of where I grew up,” Womack told a group gathered at The Club in Birmingham Thursday.
Success would come if he was willing to seek it and treat everyone fairly along the way, Womack recalled.
“Through the grace of God, I can be whatever I want to be. I’ve got to put the work in. I’ve got to treat everybody right,” he said. “With that kind of belief and faith and hope and optimism, the sky is the limit.”
Womack was the guest during the Founders and Leaders Luncheon hosted by the Birmingham chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Womack, the head of one the country’s largest utility companies and the parent company of Alabama Power, sat for a discussion where he talked about his early years, his growth while in Birmingham and his belief in a shared corporate and personal responsibility to improve the lives of others.
“I can’t do anything by myself,” Womack said. “It takes a village, it takes a family, it takes a bunch of us to collectively do things to make a difference,” Womack said. “As we’re sitting at the table doing the business that we must do, how do we also make sure that we’re doing other work while we’re there.”
Womack also touched on Birmingham’s homicide rate and what can be done to address it. The remedies are shared responsibility, he explained.
Birmingham ended 2024 with 152 homicides, the highest number in the city since 1933. Birmingham has already reported 15 homicides this year.
“You say, ‘Whose problem is that? Who’s got to solve that? Is it Mayor Woodfin’s problem? Is it the state’s problem?’ We all have to figure out what role and what part we play in helping to find solutions to those kinds of issues that are in our community,” Womack said. “I have a responsibility to make sure I make a difference.”
As an example, Womack noted his collaboration with the Atlanta mayor on initiatives to tackle homelessness in that city. Southern company is based in Atlanta.
“I don’t want the homeless issue in Atlanta to turn out what it has turned out to be in San Francisco, Los Angeles and in other places,” he said. “That’s something that we all have to do in terms of finding our own path and finding our own way to help try to make a difference.”
The event was moderated by Erskine “Chuck” Faush, Chief Development, Innovation & Growth Officer at Miles College and CEO of the 2150 Center For Innovation.
“I’ve worked for him, I’ve worked with him and he’s been a mentor to me,” Faush told AL.com later. “Our support from Miles College and the 2150 Innovation center of innovation is aligned with our mission to give tools and resources to the next generation of innovators, disruptors and game changers.”
Faush called the event an opportunity to inspire and showcase the possibilities of success to the young men in the audience alongside older fraternity members.
“All of us have had someone in our lives who has helped mold us, shape us and guide us,” he said. “This brought together emerging leaders, college and high school students to be in the same room with members of our fraternity who are not only accomplished but embody who we are as servant leaders.”
As a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha, Womack called the organization a conduit for community development and positive change. He issued a challenge to use existing historic organizations such as his to address current needs.
“We have a built-in network of people that we can marshal, that we can bring together around a cause that is so critically important. We have the opportunity to make a very, very, very big difference,” he said. “These organizations already have the infrastructure and membership. How do we stimulate this opt we have to tackle the great challenges that we face in our communities and in our country?”
Womack noted that the national fraternity was founded on the principles of scholarship and love for all mankind.
“Those virtues are just as important today as they were in 1906. And I would submit to you that they are more important today than they were in 1906,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to put the hard work in and don’t be afraid to do the hard things.”
