DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa Rep. Leonard Boswell has been elected chairman of the seven-member Iowa Transportation Commission. The Des Moines Register reports that Boswell was elected to the post last week. The commission is the policymaking arm of the Iowa Department of Transportation.

The 81-year-old Boswell owns a farm near Davis City along the Iowa-Missouri border and is a former member of the Iowa Senate who has remained active in state government since he was defeated for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012.

Boswell is a Vietnam veteran and a decorated U.S. Army helicopter pilot who now co-chairs Gov. Terry Branstad’s Home Base Iowa program to recruit military veterans to work and live in Iowa.