Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard Resigns for Purdue Job

James Bullard, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, has announced his resignation.

Bullard stepped down from those roles Thursday (July 13) and will leave the bank effective Aug. 14 to become the inaugural dean of the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business at Purdue University on Aug. 15, the St. Louis Fed said in a Thursday press release.

Jim McKelvey, chair of the St. Louis Fed’s board of directors, commended Bullard for his 15 years of service to the Federal Reserve System.

“Jim Bullard has brought his scholarly expertise and often prescient views to the policy table as the Fed navigated several remarkable economic issues during his 15 years as St. Louis Fed president: the Great Recession, the zero lower bound, high unemployment, the COVID pandemic and the current high inflation,” McKelvey said in the release. “His commitment to outreach and transparency has been unwavering. Bullard also built a strong management team, and we’re confident in the Bank’s ongoing performance and service to the Eighth Federal Reserve District during this transition.”

Bullard has recused himself from his monetary policy role on the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee and other related duties and has ceased all public speaking, according to the press release. He will remain available to the Bank’s leadership in an advisory capacity until Aug. 14 to help ensure a smooth transition.

To fill the president and CEO void, the St. Louis Fed board of directors named the Bank’s first vice president and chief operating officer, Kathleen O’Neill Paese, to assume the duties of interim president and CEO, effective immediately, the release said.

The St. Louis Fed board of directors will now lead a search committee composed of the six Bank directors who are not affiliated with regulated banks or financial institutions, per the release. The committee will retain a national executive search firm to assist in a search process that is robust, transparent, fair and inclusive.

Bullard has been one of the most vocal advocates of stronger moves to fight inflation, pressing for the Fed to raise interest rates more rapidly, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Thursday.