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Bryan Ferguson
Habersham County native Bryan Ferguson has been chosen as the next president and CEO of Habersham Electric Membership Corporation.
HEMC Board of Directors announced the decision Sept. 8 after what it said was a months-long process of vetting job candidates.
“We initially received 90 résumés from across the nation,” HEMC Board Chairman David Wall said in a press statement. “As a Board, we wanted someone with an electric utility background to lead the cooperative as well as build relationships with our members, employees and communities.”
Ferguson has a 24-year career in electric utilities. He has been employed with Alabama Power, a division of Southern Company, since 2018 and previously held leadership positions at Georgia Power, according to the HEMC statement.
He will begin his new role at HEMC Sept. 28.
“I am honored to have been selected by the HEMC Board of Directors as the new President and CEO,” Ferguson said. “I look forward to returning to my home community and engaging with the cooperative’s members across the system.”
In announcing its new chief executive, HEMC touted his “strong track record of achieving strategic company goals, managing resources to ensure organizational success, and building community relationships.”
Ferguson has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Southern Polytechnic State University and a corporate management certification in organizational leadership from Emory University. He is also a graduate of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development (2012) and Leadership Habersham (2016).
Ferguson, his wife Wendy and daughter Anna Claire will be relocating to Habersham County. The couple also has three adult children and a grandchild.
The hiring comes nearly a year after the departure of former CEO Brad Hicks in September 2019 after a nearly two-year tenure. The following month, Whit Hollowell was named HEMC’s interim CEO as the Board shared plans for a “methodical approach” in its search for a new CEO.
Through multiple stages of assessment, the initial pool of 90 applicants was ultimately narrow to six who participated in face-to-face interviews at the HEMC headquarters in Clarkesville.