The Ohio State Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday. Credit: Davis Beatty | Campus Editor
The Ohio State board of trustees met Thursday to review the university and medical center’s strong financial start to the 2026 fiscal year.
The board reviewed higher-then-expected earnings of the universities and the medical centers total revenue and the fundraising goals in the Finance and Investment Committee meeting.
Mike Papadakis, chief financial officer and senior vice president of business and finance, told the board that the university earned almost $40 million more in revenue than expected, with a total of $2.74 billion.
For the medical center, Richard Silveira, chief financial officer of the center, said the building is starting 2026 strong. Most of the revenue growth came from surgeries and the distribution of medical drugs for cancer treatment.
“[I’m] pleased to report that in terms of sources, [we’re] really driven by volume,” Rich said. “We had very strong surgical volumes, strong cancer infusion volumes, which [is] really top-line revenue.”
Mike Eicher, the senior vice president of external affairs, reported that current fundraising stands at $247.4 million, while the three-year average is $226.9 million, placing the office about 10 percent more than it expected.
Eicher said that events like Brutus’ 60th birthday, the opening of the Monda Student Resource Center and the medical center’s white coat ceremony motivated donor engagement.
“We target around some of these celebrations and special causes that have all helped us increase the donor because of a change in strategy,” Eicher. “Looking ahead, the team is pretty excited here to finish 2025, strong, expanding participation. I think these numbers are going to continue to grow.”
