Cathy Hill is Regional Vice President in charge of operations for Georgia Power, a Southern Company, in Savannah and the entire coastal region. Hill is celebrating her 30th anniversary with Georgia Power this year.

Serving in her current role since 2008, Hill is responsible for overseeing the company’s operations in the Coastal Region, which includes Savannah, Springfield, Statesboro, Swainsboro, Hinesville, Jesup, Brunswick, Kingsland, St. Mary’s, Darien, Glennville, Claxton and Metter communities.

Born in Dublin, Georgia, Hill earned her bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and her Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University. Hill completed the executive management program at Harvard’s Judge School of Business, and is a graduate of Leadership Georgia and the Regional Leadership Institute..

Since joining Georgia Power in 1984, Hill has held management positions in fleet operations, district engineering, region power delivery, and region distribution operations. She served as assistant to the president & CEO prior to her current position.

In 2006, Georgia Power acquired Savannah Electric and Power. That merger inspired an entirely new strategy and commitment to how we serve customers,” she said. What followed, among other things, was the construction of a more comprehensive underground network for power distribution.

In her six-year tenure as the Regional Vice President for the Savannah and Coastal Georgia region, Hill has many accomplishments to her credit. Distribution all over the region has improved under her leadership, including the new heavy transmission lines along Ga. Highway 204 on the south side of Savannah. The renovation of the Springfield office has brought an updated image and an entirely new customer experience to the area. Significant upgrades in customer facilities around the region have also enhanced the customer experience.

Hill said the region has seen a lot of progress on infrastructure during her tenure; something she said frees her up to focus more on the development pieces. “One of our biggest accomplishments has been our investment in employee training,” said Hill. “We are teaching people to become energy experts.” In fact, education has become a driving force in Georgia Power’s push toward the future. “We have added an education coordinator,” said Hill. “The education coordinator travels all over the coastal region speaking to young people in classrooms, educating young people on energy use and efficiency.

Georgia Power has also added Energy Efficiency Representatives who educate the public, in both homes and businesses on how to make their structures more energy efficient and how to reduce electric consumption and use power wisely. All of these things put downward pressure on customers’ electric bills.

The educational programs Georgia Power now offers are approved by the Georgia State Department of Education, and are considered part of a collective, stateside movement to advance Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). “The teachers attend the Ron Clark Academy,” said Hill. The Ron Clark Academy is a private, high-performing, and innovative school in Atlanta that not only teaches young students but also trains teachers in the very latest techniques of quality instruction and effective learning methods for teaching adults. Hill said that Georgia Power is interested in helping the academy serve more school districts with its cutting-edge techniques in teaching, and to partner with schools and colleges to develop new curricula.

The Savannah area has had some difficulty developing the level of workforce needed for some of the most technically demanding jobs. A recent study showed that, of the 247 institutions claiming to provide workforce readiness training in Savannah, at more than 65 percent of the successes were coming from Savannah Technical College. That’s why Hill’s service on the board of directors of Savannah Tech is so essential. “Savannah Tech has been helpful in identifying interns for us,” said Hill, who is anxious to provide real-world work experience to engineering students. Classes at Savannah Tech are being geared toward the specific needs of Savannah’s largest employers. Classes at the technical college can lead to associate’s degrees and beyond.

But Hill’s strongest emphasis is on her present workforce, which she describes as “incredible” in their dedication and expertise. “I never take our front-line people for granted,” she said. “The work they do out there every day is unbelievably difficult. Storm season, summer and winter, they function as a true team.”

Because of such dedication and expertise on the streets, Hill says she is excited about the superior level of customer service. “There is more investment to come,” said Hill. “Savannah and all of Coastal Georgia is flourishing in community and economic development. County by county, we need to be one step ahead of the progress so that adequate infrastructure is there even before it’s needed.”

In addition to her governance work at Savannah Tech, Hill has served as the board chair the Armstrong Atlantic State University Foundation and is past-chair elect of the United Way of the Coastal Empire. and served on the board of the Creative Coast. She also serves as a board member at the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Savannah Economic Development Authority, Georgia Tech - Savannah, Memorial Medical Health Foundation, Ossabaw Island Foundation, Step Up Savannah and SunTrust.