Monday, January 12, 2009

Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner says he will leave later this month, giving President-elect Barack Obama an opportunity to put his stamp on the central bank.

After nearly three years at the Fed, Kroszner says he will step down on Jan. 21. That's a week before the Fed's next regularly scheduled meeting.

Kroszner, 46, will return to academia as a professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. His departure from the central bank was expected.

Kroszner has served at the Fed during a time of great financial and economic turbulence. The convergence of housing, credit and financial debacles has created the worst crisis to hit the country since the 1930s.