Nicholas Financial has a new chief financial officer.

According to a recent announcement, Kelly Malson will become the subprime auto finance company’s CFO effective on or before June 15. Malson will replace Chad Steinorth, who rejoined the institution on March 1 as vice president and interim CFO.

Before coming aboard at Nicholas, Malson was appointed as a director of Conn’s, a furniture and home electronics retailer. That appointment came in August 2012, and she became chair of the retailer’s audit committee in November 2012.

Malson served as Conn’s audit committee chair until its 2018 annual meeting held on May 30. Malson was also appointed to Conn’s nominating and corporate governance committee in December 2015.

Earlier in her career, Malson served as senior vice president, CFO and treasurer from May 2009 until stepping down from those positions in December 2013 at World Acceptance Corp., one of the largest small-loan consumer finance companies, operating 1,334 offices in 15 states and Mexico. She remained employed by World Acceptance from December 2013 until her retirement in February 2014.

Prior to that, she held the titles of VP and CFO from March 2006 until May 2009 and VP of internal audit from September 2005 to March 2006 at World Acceptance.

Malson also served as finance compliance manager from 2004 to 2005 for ITRON, which enables utilities and cities to safely, securely and reliably deliver critical infrastructure services to communities in more than 100 countries.

Prior to 2004, Malson served in various positions with KPMG and Arthur Andersen.

“We are extremely pleased and excited to announce Kelly Malson as our CFO,” said Doug Marohn, president and chief executive officer of Nicholas Financial.

“Ms. Malson has an extensive and impressive career overall, but her experience serving as CFO and director of public companies, including a company in the consumer credit space, make her a particularly valuable addition to our executive management team,” Marohn continued.