Former Secret Service agent Paul Irving has been chosen to serve as the next House Sergeant-at-Arms.

Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) nominee will be confirmed by a vote of the full House on Jan. 17, the scheduled opening day of the second session of the 112th Congress.

“Paul Irving’s 25-year career in the U.S. Secret Service earned him the strongest possible recommendation for this important post,” Boehner said in a statement announcing his pick for the chief law enforcement officer of the House. “His high level of federal law enforcement experience, including a number of assignments working closely with Congress, will be invaluable to the House.”

Irving has a background similar to that of Bill Livingood, the current Sergeant-at-Arms who plans to step down early next year after 17 years in the post. Livingood is a 33-year veteran of the Secret Service.

According to Boehner’s statement, Irving began his career as a clerk in the FBI’s Los Angeles field office. In 1983, he joined the Secret Service as a special agent.

He went on to serve in a supervisory position in the Secret Service on the presidential protective detail, then assumed the post of deputy assistant director of the Secret Service for Congressional affairs and assistant director for government and public affairs.

In 2003, Irving served in the Executive Office of the President as a member of the White House transition team that helped bring into being the Department of Homeland Security.

He retired from the Secret Service in 2008 as assistant director for administration.