Biography
Nicolas “Nico” Karagosian joined Marshall University in August 2024.
He has more than 25 years of fundraising experience, most recently as the president and CEO of the Ohio University Foundation and vice president of university advancement. At OU from 2018-2024, he led a team of 80 to launch the largest comprehensive campaign in the university’s history. He also increased annual fundraising by more than $15 million per year, grew alumni engagement by more than 400%, and oversaw an endowment with more than $1 billion in total assets under management. Under his leadership, the Foundation earned GuideStar’s Platinum designation for transparency four years in a row, was rated a four-star charity by Charity Navigator in 2022 and 2023, and earned multiple awards and recognitions from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Before his stint at OU, he was the senior director of development at the University of South Florida in Tampa from 2012-2014, serving as chief development officer for the largest college on the university’s campus. He then moved on to the University of Cincinnati Foundation from 2014-2018, where he held progressively responsible senior leadership roles, culminating as the vice president of advancement and executive director of the University of Cincinnati Bicentennial.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., and his MBA and Master of Science from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, N.Y. Additionally, he earned his Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) certification from CFRE International in 2009.