Whitehead named president of SEL

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories CEO Dave Whitehead will assume the role of president of the Pullman-based company, according to a Friday news release from SEL.

Former President Ed Schweitzer asked the SEL Board of Directors to officially change his own position from president to founder.

SEL Chief Financial Officer Joey Nestegard was promoted to executive vice president of the company.

Schweitzer said in a statement that he wants to spend more time as a “mentor, inventor, collaborator and teacher.”

“I love inventing the future side by side with Dave, Joey and our entire group of creative, hard-working, intelligent folks who value the customers and industries we serve,” Schweitzer said.

All three men received degrees from Washington State University. Whitehead received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Idaho.

Whitehead joined SEL in 1994 as a hardware engineer. He led its research and development division for more than a decade before taking on the roles of chief operating officer and then CEO.

Nestegard joined the company in 2002 as a finance professional. He became the CFO in 2017.

Schweitzer, 77, founded SEL in 1984. SEL produces digital products that protect power grids around the world.