Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner announced on Monday his plans to resign a day after President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office.

Kroszner, 46, joined the Federal Reserve Board in March 2006 and plans to return to the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago to take a newly created chaired professorship.

“The challenges and issues we have confronted have been unprecedented. I am particularly pleased with our accomplishments in monetary policy, innovative liquidity facilities, banking and financial regulatory policy, and in strengthening consumer protection,” Kroszner wrote in his resignation letter to President George W. Bush.

He added, “It has been a great honor to serve my country as a member of the Federal Reserve Board.”

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, credited Kroszner with overseeing the completion of new regulations protecting mortgage borrowers and credit card customers.

"Randy's contributions to the Federal Reserve and his country during his nearly three years at the board have been invaluable," Bernanke said in a statement. "We have greatly benefited from the intellectual rigor he brought to the consideration of both monetary and regulatory policy."

Kroszner’s resignation gives Obama a chance to influence the Federal Reserve Board by making his own appointment following his inauguration on January 20.

Federal Reserve governors are appointed to 14-year terms by the president and are subject to Senate confirmation. The Federal Reserve Board oversees Federal Reserve Banks and establishes monetary policy such as those on interest rates.

The Federal Reserve Board has signed off on many of Bernanke’s unprecedented actions during the current credit crisis, including the rescue of Citigroup (C) and sale of collapsed lender Wachovia to Wells Fargo (WFC). 

The Fed has also voted to slash interest rates to the lowest levels on record in an effort to bring the year-long recession to an end.

Kroszner served as a professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s business school from 1999 until 2006. He also served as a visiting scholar at various organizations, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the IMF, the London School of Economics and the American Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank.

Also prior to his stint on the Federal Reserve Board, Kroszner was a member of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2001 until 2003.

Click here to read Kroszner's full bio.