Seattle-based Washington Federal Inc. appointed Thomas Kelley vice chairman.

In conjunction with Kelley's appointment, the current title of Executive Chairman Roy Whitehead will change to chairman of the board as planned.

Kelley is expected to assume the role of chairman when Whitehead fully retires Dec. 31 as previously announced. Whitehead had retired after 17 years as CEO of the company on April 1, 2017.

The career of Kelley, who serves on the Washington Federal board as lead independent director, has been spent largely in public accounting. After retiring from public accounting, he taught in the Department of Accounting at Seattle University from 2002 to 2012.