Bentina C. Terry named president and CEO of Southern Company telecom subsidiaries

Arnab Ghosal named Southern Telecom chief operating officer

ATLANTA, Dec. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Linc announced today that Bentina C. Terry has been named president and CEO of Southern Communications with responsibility to lead Southern Linc and Southern Telecom, Inc. (STI).

Terry assumes her new role January 1, 2024, leading these Southern Company (NYSE: SO) subsidiaries that provide mission critical LTE wireless and dark-fiber networks and services to electric utilities and a range of businesses and public sector agencies.

She will advance a strategy that furthers the capabilities of these subsidiaries to strengthen grid resilience and increase value for Southern Company system customers, communities and shareholders.

"I'm pleased that a leader of Bentina's caliber will join our experienced telecommunications leadership team," said Stan Connally, executive vice president of Southern Company Operations and CEO of Southern Company Services. "Her proven leadership skills and deep industry experience will help us advance how we meet core operational and customer needs through our wireline and wireless telecommunications operations."

With more than 20 years in the utility sector, Terry brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success to her new role. She has demonstrated a deep understanding of the industry, consistently driven growth, fostered innovation and achieved outstanding business outcomes.

Terry joins Southern Linc and STI from Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power, where she most recently served as senior vice president of Customer Strategy and Solutions. In that role, she led business areas focused on ensuring superior service and innovative solutions for Georgia Power's 2.4 million customers.

Throughout her career with the Southern Company system, Bentina has served customers and stakeholders in several states through wide-ranging roles in many areas. Since joining Georgia Power in 2001, she has held senior leadership roles in many areas of the business. Prior to Southern Company, Terry supported Georgia Power and Southern Company at Troutman Sanders (now Troutman Pepper) as a labor and employment lawyer. Earlier in her career, she served as associate general counsel at Progress Energy (now Duke Energy) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Arnab Ghosal named Southern Telecom Chief Operating Officer

The company also announced that Arnab Ghosal will join STI as vice president and chief operating officer. Ghosal will report to Terry in his new role, which he assumes January 1, 2024.

Ghosal will help ensure STI is well positioned for the future as fiber deployment and utilization become ever more important to state and local economies and Southern Company system operations. In addition to his STI role, Ghosal will continue to lead a team at subsidiary Alabama Power that is working to make the electric grid more reliable and secure.

"I'm confident that Bentina, Arnab and Southern Linc Vice president, Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer Carmine Reppucci, along with their teammates, will lead our telecommunications businesses to deliver even more value to all those we are privileged to serve," Connally said.

About Southern Linc

Southern Linc is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company. Southern Linc delivers highly reliable, highly secure LTE voice and data services to Southern Company electric utilities as well as to a wide range of businesses and public sector agencies across Alabama, Georgia, southeastern Mississippi, and the Florida panhandle. The CriticalLinc™ network provides over-the-air encryption from devices to towers and supports encryption from towers to the network's core data centers.

SOURCE Southern Linc