May 14, 2024

Fred D. Clark, Jr.

Over the past 35 years, Fred Clark has been involved with energy policy development and advocacy. He has worked to build consensus during his years of experience with municipal electric utilities and electric cooperatives in Alabama.

In 2019, Mr. Clark helped establish and became President & CEO of Energy Southeast (ESE), A Cooperative District. ESE is a public corporation established by the Alabama Municipal Electric Authority (AMEA). ESE’s goal is to advance the mission of publicly owned gas and electric systems by providing low-cost, competitively priced wholesale natural gas and electricity, delivered through secure, reliable, long-term projects. ESE has primarily met this mission by using tax exempt bonds to prepay for long-term commodity supplies.

In 2007, Mr. Clark became President and Chief Executive Officer of AMEA, which provides wholesale electric power to 11 cities in the state of Alabama. AMEA’s Member cities serve approximately 350,000 customers.

In 1999, Mr. Clark became the first executive director of Electric Cities of Alabama in Montgomery, AL. Electric Cities of Alabama is the statewide association for municipally-owned electric utilities.

In 1991, Mr. Clark accepted the position of President of the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives (AREA) in Montgomery. AREA is a statewide association of Alabama’s electric cooperatives.

In 1990, Mr. Clark accepted a position as State Director for U.S. Senator Richard Shelby. Mr. Clark’s responsibilities included management of Senator Shelby’s five in-state offices located in Birmingham, Madison, Mobile, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa.

In 1989, Mr. Clark accepted a position as a Washington Legislative Representative for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, a Washington, D.C.-based association representing the political interest of America’s 1,000 electric cooperatives.

In 1986, Mr. Clark accepted the position of Legislative Assistant for U.S. Senator Howell Heflin. Mr. Clark’s responsibilities for Senator Heflin included all legislation considered or developed in the Senate Agriculture Committee and directing staff work on the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development and Rural Electrification.

Mr. Clark is a past member of the American Public Power Association (APPA) Board of Directors (2015-2021). APPA, based in Washington, D.C., represents not-for-profit, community-owned electric utilities that power homes, businesses and streets in nearly 2,000 towns and cities, serving 47 million Americans.

He is a member of the Transmission Access Policy Study Group (TAPS) Board of Directors and currently serves as its treasurer. TAPS was formed in 1989 to represent the interests of Transmission Dependent Utilities before Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

In June 2022, Mr. Clark received APPA’s Alan H. Richardson Statesmanship Award. The award honors public power leaders who work to achieve consensus on national issues important to public power utilities.

Mr. Clark is a graduate of Auburn University with Bachelor of Science and Master of Agriculture degrees.

A native of Elba, AL, he is married to Blake Guthrie Clark of Enterprise. They have two children: a daughter, Laura Catherine Clark Miaoulis (Michael); and a son, Fred Denson Clark, III.

The Clarks are members of First Baptist Church in Montgomery.