Ricky Martin has, in some ways, come home to Atmore. He is the new manager of Alabama Power in Atmore and although he has never lived here, his wife, Shannon, is a native.

“My wife is happy to be back in Atmore, and the rest of her family is happy for us to move here,” Martin said.

“Especially the grandparents are happy about the move. I don’t know how happy they are to have us around, but they are tickled to be getting a chance to have their grandchildren close by.”

Martin was raised in Pensacola and graduated from the University of West Florida with a degree in marketing.

After graduation he said he worked for about 14 months in Gayfers before taking a job with Gulf Power in human resource employee relations He worked in human resources for 16 years, two in leadership development, three years as local manager in Chipley, Fla. and three years in customer service as team leader in Panama City, Fla.

“I am excited to be in Atmore,” Martin said. “I want to make sure that we serve the community and help to make it an even better place than it is. I want us to be involved in the community and in everything that concerns it. I expect us to have a superior product and stress customer service. We value the customers and hope to make a difference in someone’s life and make it better.”

Martin and his wife, the former Shannon Byrd, and their two sons, Ben, 13 and Sam, 10 have already become a part of their community.

“We are glad to be in Atmore,” Martin said. “I have an older daughter, also named Shannon, from a previous marriage. She is 24 and lives in Jacksonville, Fla. The boys are very active in sports and we spend a lot of time together as a family involved with baseball and basketball. They are very glad to be here in Atmore.”

Martin joins the local Alabama Power company office staff after being named successor to Peggie Byrd. Byrd, who had been a part of the APCO family for 33 years having served as manager of the Atmore and Flomaton offices for the last 13 years.

Byrd said she will continue to volunteer her newly-acquired free time in the community she has grown to call home.