Jay Kasey (left) retired June 28 as Ohio State’s senior vice president of administration and planning. Mark Conselyea (right) took over as interim senior vice president July 1. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State University and the Wexner Medical Center
Jay Kasey, Ohio State’s now-former senior vice president of administration and planning, has retired after 17 years at the university.
Kasey began his time at Ohio State as the Wexner Medical Center’s chief operating officer in 2007. He oversaw the center’s $1.1 billion expansion before moving into the role of senior vice president of administration and planning in 2012. Kasey was responsible for overseeing the department of public safety, facilities operations and development, planning, architecture and real estate, transportation and traffic management, UniPrint and WOSU, according to the department’s website.
Kasey also worked on the “Time and Change” projects, which cost $3 billion dollars to complete and encompassed the construction of University Square on 15th Avenue and North High Street, the Wexner Medical Center Inpatient Hospital and the Combined Heat and Power Plant, according to the university’s website.
Kasey highlighted the reconstruction of Pomerene Hall, which was completed in 2018, and Hamilton Hall, which completed a three-phase renovation in January 2023, as two of his proudest accomplishments.
“When we can take something old and make it new again and make it really important to the university, I just think that’s a wonderful thing,” Kasey said.
Beyond the projects he has overseen, Kasey said building up the administration and planning department’s team is likewise one of his biggest personal achievements.
“We have built expertise and knowledge and enthusiasm for a team of people who, as I leave, I have every confidence our work will just go on and on,” Kasey said.
Mark Conselyea was named the interim senior vice president Monday. Conselyea is the current vice president of facilities of operation and development, a title he will continue to hold during his time as interim senior vice president.
Conselyea began his career at Ohio State as an administrative associate at the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute in 1996. He later became the associate vice president at the Wexner Medical Center in 2013, where he oversaw facility planning.
Conselyea said this near-10 years of prior experience have helped him prepare for the interim senior vice president role.
“I’ve been really working and hoping that I could position myself someday for this role. I’ve been in my vice president role for the last four or five years leading [facilities of operation and development], and the next logical step here at Ohio State would be Jay’s role, so I am excited for the opportunity,” Conselyea said.
Conselyea plans to “deepen his relationships” with university President Ted Carter Jr. and the administration. He said he intends to treat the interim position as permanent to continue “the momentum that Jay created with other members of the university.”
“I’m going to be working more closely with the [Master Planning and Facilities] committee, really working with other members of the cabinet and the president and understanding what their individual goals are, and the maybe formal and maybe less-formal, less-written roles and goals of the university so that we’re all staying aligned,” Conselyea said.
Conselyea said he hopes to focus on deferred maintenance of existing campus buildings, which he said the university has “let slide for a number of years,” and ensure those “most urgent priorities get funded and addressed.”
“We spend a lot of money on new buildings but we have to maintain our existing buildings to make sure the roofs and the air handlers and the elevators and all those systems are functioning properly and meeting the needs of the occupants,” Conselyea said. “I’ve been focused over the past several years to really understand who we are and where our priorities need to be as it relates to deferred maintenance.”
Kasey said Conselyea is “a great guy who will keep things moving” and the university “will not miss a step with his leadership.”
