After Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. abruptly resigned, Ohio State trustees on Thursday appointed Provost Ravi Bellamkonda as president, moving past Carter’s exit quickly and naming Bellamkonda as the university’s next leader, according to the university and board chair statements cited by the Associated Press.
Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Bellamkonda as Carter’s successor, bypassing what Ohio State described as the traditional nationwide search. Board chair John Zeiger told the board during a special meeting that “The right leader is already at our university,” adding that Bellamkonda’s experience, personal values, management skills, record at Ohio State, and ability to inspire excellence gave trustees “great confidence” that he was the right fit.
The trustees’ move came after Carter resigned in response to a board confrontation that followed a tip from outside the university, the AP reported. In Carter’s public statement, he said he “made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership” and submitted his resignation, according to the AP account. Carter did not elaborate on the nature of the relationship, and the statement indicated he and his wife, Lynda, are still together.
Ohio State accepted Carter’s resignation on Sunday, expressing surprise and disappointment, and the university said it was investigating what it called his “inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources to support her personal business.” Carter had been in the role for about two years of a five-year contract that, as described by AP, paid more than $1.1 million a year plus bonuses and included residency at the president’s mansion.
As the investigation unfolded, JobsOhio, the state’s privatized economic development office, said it was “possibly connected” to Carter’s relationship with Krisanthe Vlachos, who was the host of a veterans’ podcast pilot called “The Callout” for which JobsOhio paid $15,000 an episode. JobsOhio said only one of the sponsored episodes was delivered and it sought to claw back $60,000, according to AP’s reporting.
The investigation also prompted steps related to vetting and contracting, according to AP. Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson said VetEarnUSA LLC, an Ohio business registered by Vlachos on Dec. 20, is part of the inquiry, and that Johnson had identified the business’s address as that of WOSU Public Media. The AP reported that WOSU said Vlachos had a contract with the station to record her podcast inside its Columbus studios; AP also reported that the business filing listed a St. Louis ZIP code.
AP also reported that the Associated Press tried to reach Vlachos for comment by phone and email, and that a YouTube channel and LinkedIn page associated with the podcast had been scrubbed of content or taken down. Carter had appeared as a guest on the podcast multiple times beginning in 2024, AP said.
Beyond the podcast arrangement itself, JobsOhio described other elements of its interactions tied to Carter’s office and Vlachos. JobsOhio said it provided Vlachos a vendor pass to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to meet people and identify angles for remaining podcast episodes under their agreement, and JobsOhio said it also paid $10,000 toward a theater production for veterans called “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret” as part of its Hometown Heroes program.
JobsOhio further said Vlachos submitted a proposal to JobsOhio, Ohio State’s president’s office, and others for a mobile job-search app for Ohio veterans. It said it conducted due diligence and decided not to move forward with any investment tied to that effort, AP reported.
At the board meeting on Thursday, Bellamkonda told reporters that stakeholders will have a spectrum of reactions to Carter’s swift departure and potential misconduct and he pledged to move forward and hold the university to a high standard. AP described Bellamkonda’s background as a bioengineer and neuroscientist; he previously held leadership, research, or teaching roles at Emory University, Duke, Georgia Tech, and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and he earned a Ph.D. in medical science and biomaterials at Brown.
Ohio State brought Carter to the university in 2023 from the University of Nebraska system, AP said. AP also reported that Carter is a former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy and attended Navy Fighter Weapons School, known as Top Gun.