After 32 years of service to Southern Company, Joseph "Buzz" Miller, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Power, has announced his retirement, effective April 1.

Mark Lantrip, Southern Company Services chairman, president and CEO, will serve as interim chairman, president and CEO of Southern Power until a permanent replacement is chosen.

Miller began his Southern Company career with Alabama Power in 1986. After a series of roles of increasing responsibility, he was assigned to Washington, D.C. in 1993 as federal affairs manager. In 1998, he served as assistant to Southern Company chairman, president and CEO, Bill Dahlberg. In 1999, Miller returned to Washington as vice president of governmental relations. In 2006, Miller was asked to lead the development of Plant Vogtle units 3 and 4, the first new nuclear units to be built in the United States in over 30 years.

Miller assumed his role at Southern Power in February 2016. Since that time, he has guided the company's growth in natural gas, wind and solar wholesale generation.

"On behalf of Southern Company, I want to thank Buzz for his leadership during his career across a number of our business units," Southern Company chairman, president and CEO Tom Fanning said. "His efforts were essential during the early stages of the Vogtle units 3 and 4 nuclear construction project, the first of its kind in the U.S. in over 30 years. We wish Buzz all the best in his future endeavors."

A 1983 graduate of Auburn University, Miller is a 2015 inductee into the state of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame, and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reactor technology course for utility executives. He also serves as a member of the Engineering Alumni Council at Auburn University.