Former Minnesota Governor and Presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty has announced former Atlantic resident and A-H-S graduate Roger Underwood, has been selected as one of two co-chairs for his Iowa campaign committee.

Underwood is co-founder and executive director at Rural American Fund, a private equity firm that focuses on investments in growing middle-market rural firms. After graduating from Iowa State University in Ames, he co-founded Becker-Underwood in Ames, in 1982. The firm has since grown into the world’s leading supplier of non-pesticide specialty chemical and biological products, with annual sales of more than $180 million.

Underwood is a current and former member of numerous corporate and organizational boards of directors, including the ISU Board of Governors. Joining him as Pawlenty’s Iowa campaign co-chair, is Cedar Rapids entrepreneur and former gubernatorial candidate, Christian Fong.