Top JobsOhio official departs, with spokesperson claiming departure is unrelated to recent scandal

A top JobsOhio official who helped start the oft-maligned organization announced she would leave, and a spokesperson said her departure is not related to a recent scandal that led to the resignation of The Ohio State University’s president.

Kristi Clouse will step down as senior managing director of talent, a position she has held for 10 years, on May 1, according to the press release. In a release, JobsOhio announced that Clouse “helped create JobsOhio,” being “one of its lead researchers.”

Clouse’s departure follows a JobsOhio scandal involving a $60,000 payment to podcaster Krisanthe Vlachos, who had a romantic relationship with now-former Ohio State University President Ted Carter. Even though Clouse did not cite a reason for her departure, JobsOhio spokesperson Matt Englehart told NBC 4 that her departure is not connected to the recent scandal.

“Kristi’s departure has nothing to do with the Callout Podcast deal or the Ted Carter incident,” Englehart told the news outlet.

According to the release, “Clouse’s work has been central to integrating talent strategy directly into Ohio’s largest economic development wins, ensuring workforce readiness remains a competitive advantage in site selection and business expansion decisions.”

“Kristi has been instrumental in building a modern, scalable talent strategy that directly supports Ohio’s economic growth,” JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef said in a release. “Her leadership helped build JobsOhio from the ground up, position Ohio at the forefront of workforce innovation, and her impact will continue to be felt across the state for years to come.”

JobsOhio said that it has activated its succession plan and will conduct a national search for its next talent leader. Meanwhile, Molly Moses will fill Clouse’s position in an interim capacity.

“The impact we’ve made is a reflection of an exceptional team and strong partnerships across the state,” Clouse said in the release. “Together, we’ve built programs that are helping employers grow and creating new pathways for Ohioans to succeed.”

Former Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, created JobsOhio in 2011 as a nonprofit group intended to create new jobs in the state.

In the release, the organization claimed that “by the end of 2026, JobsOhio will have launched nearly $400 million in talent and innovation programs over a twelve-month span, including the JobsOhio Relocation Incentive (JORI) and the Ohio Life Science Training Center,” adding that Clouse “has been the driver behind a 5-year strategy development of an upcoming experiential learning initiative to build long-term talent pipelines for Ohio’s most in-demand jobs.”

However, as several news outlets in the state previously reported, the organization failed to do so. In a recent editorial published in The Columbus Dispatch, Dave Yost, Ohio’s attorney general, and Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, called on lawmakers to pass legislation to “make JobsOhio more transparent and accountable,” noting that bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate.

As they noted, JobsOhio claims to have created 250,000 jobs since its inception. However, the analysis that provided that figure came from JobsOhio without independent verification, they added.