Julia Harwell Segars is vice president of Alabama Power’s Eastern Division, responsible for customer service operations and external affairs for a 12-county area of east Alabama. Prior to her appointment to this position in 2006, she was vice president and chief information officer (CIO) for Alabama Power and CIO for Southern Nuclear and Southern Company Services-Birmingham.

A 1984 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, Segars served as a newspaper reporter before joining Alabama Power in 1986 as a writer in its public relations organization. She has served as editor of the company’s magazine, manager of employee communication and as a media spokesperson for the company. Other positions in her 23-year career with Southern Company have included principal consultant for leadership development and workforce development manager for Alabama Power.

She chairs the board of Calhoun County’s 64-year-old Knox Concert Series; serves on the McClellan Development Authority, and is a director of the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce, the Jacksonville State University Foundation, The Donoho School, the YMCA of Calhoun County and the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind Foundation.

Segars is a graduate of the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation fellows program and Momentum, a development program for women leaders in the Birmingham area.

She chairs the East Central Alabama Community Council for the Leading Edge Institute (LEI), a statewide leadership development program for Alabama college women. In 2008, she edited and coordinated production of “Dear Dani,” a collection of letters from 56 accomplished women in East Alabama giving life advice to a fictional young woman. The book, to date, has raised more than $33,000 to fund scholarships for area LEI participants.

Segars has served on the advisory councils for the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Information Systems department and Auburn University’s Management Information Systems department. She is past president of the Capstone Communication Society at the University of Alabama.

She is a member of the Anniston Rotary Club, Calhoun County’s Women’s Executive Network, and Etowah County’s First Friday Forum for executive women. She and her husband, Frank, have two sons, two daughters and one granddaughter.

Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO), provides reliable, affordable electricity to more than 1.4 million customers across the state.