Dive Brief:

• The Ohio State University this week released a 47-page report concluding its former President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. misused his position “to seek resources from the university and key university partners for a personal associate” and found a senior advisor to Carter, Chris Kabourek, failed to stop or report those efforts.
• The report detailed the findings of an investigation overseen by the Office of University Compliance and Integrity and requested by the Ohio State Board of Trustees immediately after Carter’s March 7 resignation. Carter stepped down after disclosing to trustees that he had an inappropriate relationship with Kisanthe Vlachos, a podcaster, and Kabourek resigned April 14, according to a Tuesday OSU press release.
• The findings, which state Kabourek’s failure to address concerns raised by employees about the situation amounted to a “dereliction of duty,” come less than a week after WVU hired Kabourek as its CFO to be effective June 1.

Dive Insight

A WVU spokesperson said in an email Thursday that university officials are aware of the OSU report and that Kabourek’s official start date “remaines June 1.” The spokesperson did not respond to CFO Dive’s question about whether it would take any action in response to the report.

WVU announced on April 16 that it was bringing on Kabourek as its CFO to “provide critical strategic vision, financial stewardship, and operational oversight in the management of our financial health, facilities, technology, and operational infrastructure.” 

Kabourek served as senior vice president for administration and planning at Ohio State from November 2024 to last month, according to his LinkedIn account. Prior to that, he spent nearly three decades working in the University of Nebraska System, including serving nearly seven years as CFO and four years as director of budget.

The OSU report, which cited Kabourek 95 times, stated that multiple people raised concerns about Vlachos’ behavior with Kabourek or another person but felt they lacked evidence needed to even report them to the university’s anonymous ethical reporting system. In response, Kabourek told them to raise their concerns directly to Carter.  

“This refusal or unwillingness to respond appropriately to such concerns, and in fact to direct them to go themselves to the person about whom the concern relates, is a dereliction of duty for a senior leader and does not demonstrate the behavior expected by the university of its leaders,” the report states. 

Carter tried to get resources for Vlachos such as support for her podcast, office space on campus and financial support. But the report states university processes and employees prevented Vlachos from “succeeding within the university,” noting that she was never hired as an employee or consultant, never received university funds and paid her own bills. However, it states internal processes did not stop Carter’s efforts to seek connections and resources outside the university. 

The report said no additional personnel actions are recommended as Kabourek has resigned and noted that the university would assist the General Counsel in responding to inquires from three state and two federal agencies it received after Carter’s resignation.

OSU and Kabourek did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment.