CHICAGO (October 9, 2025) – The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago announced today that economist John V. Leahy will become the executive vice president and director of research starting in January.

Leahy is currently the Allen Sinai Professor of Macroeconomics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan and chair of the Department of Economics.

“John Leahy is one of the leading macroeconomists in the field and has done influential work on a wide range of economic, financial and policy issues,” said Austan Goolsbee, president and chief executive officer of the Chicago Fed. “We are honored and excited for him to join the bank and help guide us through these unprecedented times.”

As research director, Leahy will lead the Chicago Fed’s research department, serve as a primary advisor to President Goolsbee, and sit on the bank’s executive committee.

Leahy has a distinguished record in economics. He has been co-editor of the American Economic Review, editor of the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, a fellow of the Econometric Society and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. His research has been published in all the leading academic economics journals including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, and Econometrica.

He has also been a member of the Academic Advisory Committee at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Cleveland.

Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Leahy was on the faculty at Harvard, Boston University and New York University and received his Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Leahy’s hire was approved by the Board of Directors of the Chicago Fed following a comprehensive national search.