COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State elevated its chief academic officer to president Thursday, moving swiftly past the abrupt resignation of former President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. following revelations about his “inappropriate relationship” with the female host of a podcast for military veterans.

Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Executive Vice President and Provost Ravi Bellamkonda as Carter’s successor — bypassing the traditional nationwide search — and Ohio State’s fourth president since 2020.

The trustees want what’s best for the university, board chair John Zeiger said.

“The right leader is already at our university,” he said during a special board meeting, “and his vast experience, his personal values and management skills, his strong record here at Ohio State and his ability to inspire excellence in all those around him give this board great confidence” that Bellamkonda is the right fit.

Carter resigns after ‘inappropriate relationship’

Days earlier, the board of trustees confronted Carter about a tip from outside the university. He disclosed that he had “made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership,” according to his public statement, and submitted his resignation. The retired Navy vice admiral was just two years into a five-year contract under which he made more than $1.1 million a year, plus bonuses and residency at Ohio State’s president’s mansion.

He did not elaborate on the nature of the relationship, and his statement indicated he and his wife, Lynda, are still together.

Expressing surprise and disappointment, Zeiger accepted his resignation Sunday and the university said it was investigating Carter’s “inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources to support her personal business.”

JobsOhio, the state’s privatized economic development office, said Carter’s resignation was “possibly connected” to his relationship to Krisanthe Vlachos, host of what was supposed to be a four-episode veterans’ podcast pilot, The Callout, for which it paid $15,000 an episode. Only one of the sponsored episodes was delivered, and the state entity is trying to claw back its $60,000, the office said.

“Ohio State is a trusted partner and Admiral Carter, sharing our passion for military and veterans, recommended The Callout Podcast as an opportunity to build and engage a military and veteran audience in Ohio,” the office posted on X, “and connect them to the massive job opportunities coming to Ohio’s super sectors like advanced aerospace/defense and energy.”

Due diligence halts investment

VetEarnUSA LLC, an Ohio business registered by Vlachos on Dec. 20, is part of the investigation, said Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson. She listed the address of the operation as that of WOSU Public Media. WOSU has reported Vlachos had a contract with them to record her podcast inside their studios in Columbus. The business filing also listed a St. Louis ZIP code.

The Associated Press left phone and email messages seeking comment from Vlachos. A YouTube channel and LinkedIn page associated with the podcast appear to have been scrubbed of content or taken down.

Carter had been a guest on the podcast multiple times going back to 2024.

Besides its sponsorship stipend to the production, which ran from September to December of last year, JobsOhio said it supplied Vlachos a vendor pass to attend the Consumer Electronics Show – CES, to “meet people and identify angles for the remaining three podcasts” owed to the office under their agreement.

JobsOhio further said that it paid Vlachos $10,000 toward a theater production for veterans called “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret.” It was part of the office’s Hometown Heroes program, which brings free programming to military, veterans and their families.

Lastly, Vlachos had submitted a proposal to JobsOhio, the Ohio State president’s office and others for a mobile job-search app for Ohio veterans, according to JobsOhio social media posts. “We conducted due diligence and decided not to move forward with any investment,” the office said of the project.

JobsOhio asserts that it followed all appropriate protocols in its partnerships with Carter’s office and Vlachos, and that there were “no irregularities in our contracting or our vetting process.”

New president voices optimism

After the board meeting, Bellamkonda told reporters that stakeholders are certain to 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.

The university brought Carter on board in 2023 from the University of Nebraska system. He is also a former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy and he attended the Navy Fighter Weapons School, known as Top Gun.

Bellamkonda, a bioengineer and neuroscientist, joined the university after holding leadership, research or teaching positions at Emory University, Duke, Georgia Tech and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He earned his Ph.D. in medical science and biomaterials at Brown.

He pledged to redouble the university’s commitment to excellence.

“Looking ahead, knowing our collective strengths, I promise you this: Together we will take on hard things that are worth doing,” he said. “Hard things that are worth doing in athletics, in healthcare, in education, in fact in all the things we do. We will lead and we will not be afraid to lead.”

___

This story has been corrected to show the new president is Ravi Bellamkonda, not Ballamkonda.