The term 'formerly held the position of' can be summarized as 'previously occupied a job'. This phrase is often used to describe someone's past experience in a particular field or profession. For example, if someone was a teacher before they became a lawyer, they could say that they 'formerly held the position of teacher'. In the crossword, the answer to this clue was 'was', which is a verb meaning 'EXISTED' or 'occurred'.