St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is stepping down

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard announced Thursday he is stepping down from his position in mid-August.

"It has been both a privilege and an honor to be part of the St. Louis Fed for the last 33 years, including serving as its president for the last 15 years," Bullard said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.

Bullard is leaving on August 14 to become the inaugural dean of Purdue University's Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business.

The regional bank head held a crucial vote on the Fed's committee responsible for interest rate decisions last year, when the Fed began its rate-hiking campaign. Bullard was one of the Fed's biggest hawks - officials who favor robust rate hikes and keeping inflation low above all else. He was the first and only member to vote for a half-point rate hike in March 2022. The remaining 11 members voted for a quarter-point hike at that meeting.

With the exception of the president of New York Fed, four regional bank presidents from the remaining 11 branches serve one-year terms on the Federal Open Market Committee on a rotating basis. Seven Fed Board of Governor members, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, hold permanent votes.

After completing his 2022 term, Bullard did not vote on monetary policy decisions this year and won't be participating in the central bank's July 25-26 meeting. Bullard would have served as an alternate voting member in 2024.

Kathleen O'Neill Paese, the St. Louis Fed's first vice president and chief operating officer, was confirmed Thursday by the bank's board and assumed Bullard's duties "immediately" in the interim, according to the statement.

The St. Louis Fed said it is hiring "a national executive search firm" to help identify Bullard's permanent successor.

Bullard's move to Purdue is part of the university's push to revamp its business school, which was renamed after receiving a $10 million donation last year.