Goldman Sachs President and co-Chief Operating Officer John Thornton will step down from his post July 1 and serve as a special adviser on China to Yale President Richard Levin. After his retirement, which Goldman Sachs officials announced Monday, Thornton will become a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, where he will serve as director for the school’s Global Leadership Program.

Thornton will continue to serve as a senior advisor to the firm and as a director of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. He will also continue his work as chairman of the executive committee at the Brookings Institution.

“John will be greatly missed,” Henry Paulson Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, said in a press release. “From the beginning of his career, John recognized the importance of the international business and has been a driving force behind our development into a global firm.”

Thornton will continue to advise Goldman Sachs on China strategy, the press release said.

–Lindsey Mergener