Jacob Hawkins

Jacob Hawkins is the Director of Public Relations for Georgia Power, and Head of System Crisis Communications for Southern Company. Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company, America’s premier energy company serving 9 million customers.

In his current role, Hawkins leads a team responsible for managing Georgia Power’s overall external communications efforts including strategy, message development, media relations and social media. Additionally, his broader team is responsible for planning, strategy and response in crisis communications across the Southern Company system. This includes maintaining a constant state of communications readiness for an organization that includes multiple electric and natural gas utilities in distinct markets across the country. Hawkins’ team cultivates relationships across the enterprise in key areas critical for response, develops and maintains crisis communications plans and processes, hosts tabletop exercises around likely scenarios, and oversees emergency response plans required to operate three nuclear power plants in Georgia and Alabama. While at Southern Company, Hawkins has successfully managed communications around real-world events such as Hurricane Helene (the most destructive storm in Georgia Power’s history), the December 2017 power outage at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, protests and civil unrest, and multiple issues at various power plants.