lay Rikard is vice president of System Planning for Southern Company. He leads resource planning, retail generation development and transmission planning through strong coordination of planning among Southern Company system’s electric operating companies. He also leads resilience planning and is responsible for the planning aspects of the company’s net-zero transition.

He previously served as director of Fleet Operations, where he led the commitment and dispatch of the Southern Company generation fleet to ensure reliability at the lowest cost possible.

Rikard began his career with Southern Company in 2003 and has held a variety of positions in the areas of generation development, market analysis and structuring, coal procurement and environmental affairs. He has held leadership positions in Fleet Operations and Trading, environmental compliance, and generation siting. He also has led the structuring and analysis group in Commercial Operations. Earlier in his career, Rikard served as the assistant to the Southern Company chief production officer and the Alabama Power senior production officer.
Rikard earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA at the University of Alabama. He is a strong supporter of the community, having served on the Alabama Policy Institute board.