Legg Mason's Sullivan: 'It’s all about getting back to positive flows'

Joe Sullivan sounded surprisingly relaxed Wednesday afternoon for a guy who hours before was named Legg Mason’s permanent CEO.

“It’s nice to have the search over with and the decision made. We move forward,” Sullivan, 55, told me in an interview on Wednesday from New York, where he was with his boss W. Allen Reed, Legg’s chairman.

The search that led to Legg Mason’s (NYSE: LM) board tapping Sullivan as the permanent replacement to Mark R. Fetting started with executive search firm Korn/Ferry…