About Speaker

Frank Dawson serves as Director of Operations for Corporate Security at Southern Company, where he provides strategic and operational leadership for enterprise security programs supporting one of the nation’s largest electric utility organizations. In this role, he oversees security operations that protect critical infrastructure, enable operational resilience, and support the company’s commitments to provide safe, clean and reliable energy.

With a diverse professional background that integrates Corporate Security, Compliance, and Economic Development, giving him a unique perspective on how security directly supports business growth and community investment. Prior to his current role, he held senior leadership positions responsible for enterprise compliance and policy governance, leading the development, implementation, and ongoing review of corporate policies across complex, regulated organizations. This experience continues to inform his disciplined, governance-driven approach to security leadership.

In addition to his security and compliance work, Mr. Dawson has managed Economic Development for Mississippi Power. Partnering with business development teams, local governments, and external stakeholders to support site selection, industrial expansion, and large-scale customer investment. In this capacity, he lead a team of professionals who helped grow CAP X investments, job growth, and job retention to the State of Mississippi.

In his career, Mr. Dawson held operational security and risk management roles of increasing responsibility, supporting physical security operations, incident response, threat assessments, and stakeholder coordination across geographically dispersed assets. He worked closely with operations, engineering, legal, human resources, and external partners to manage risk in environments where operational continuity and workforce safety were critical.

Mr. Dawson regularly engages executive leadership and boards to translate complex security risks into clear business impacts and defensible decisions. He provides leadership on utility security, critical infrastructure protection, economic development, and the evolving role of corporate security in regulated industries, with a professional focus on aligning security strategy with business growth and long-term resilience

Frank has been a member of Southern Company’s Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Alliance (DILA), Southern Company Security Council, PCL facilitators and has chaired Mississippi Power’s Leadership Development Council. In addition, Frank chaired Mississippi Power’s Strategic Growth Committee.

A native of Biloxi, MS, Dawson holds a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi and a Master of Business Administration from William Carey University. Dawson is a 2009 graduate of Leadership Gulf Coast and a 2022 Graduate of Leadership Mississippi. Frank holds the CPP and CFE designations.