WoodmenLife named Pat Dees president and CEO and Matthew Ellis executive vice president, secretary and general counsel, effective March.

Dees will succeed Larry King, who retired recently. King will continue to serve as the board chairman through October. Ellis previously was vice president and general counsel.

Dees serves on the board of directors of Woodmen Financial Services Inc., RedBasket.org, Crossroads of Western Iowa and the Nebraska Humane Society. He is also the board chair of the American Fraternal Alliance.

King joined the company in 1974 and Dees in 1988.