Fed’s Bullard steps down to head Purdue business school

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, who called for aggressive interest-rate hikes to fight the recent inflation surge, resigned after 15 years in the position to become dean of a university business school.

Bullard, 62, stepped down from his post as head of the bank effective Thursday and will fully depart Aug. 14 to become the inaugural dean of the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business at Purdue University, the St. Louis Fed said in a statement Thursday. 

James Bullard, president and chief executive officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said he’s leaving the bank.

Bloomberg News

While he remains at the bank in an advisory capacity over the next month, Bullard has recused himself from his monetary policy role on the Federal Open Market Committee and other related duties and has ceased all public speaking, the St. Louis Fed said.

The St. Louis Fed’s No. 2 official, Kathleen O’Neill Paese, becomes interim president effective immediately. The bank’s board will begin a search that’s “robust, transparent, fair and inclusive,” according to the statement.