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$110 million new gift to Ohio State U. from Ratmir Timashev
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$110 million new gift to Ohio State U. from Ratmir Timashev

It’s not the first time Buckeye alum Ratmir Timashev has made a donation to the university, but it is by far the most.

The $110 million gift is intended for a new center for software and marketing at Ohio State, the Board of Trustees said during its public meeting Thursday.

Timashev, who graduated from Ohio State in 1996, said the idea for a software and marketing center came together in concert with University President Kristina M. Johnson and other administrators.

“A new reputation is cemented for OSU, Columbus and the Midwest,” Timashev said in his address to the board. “Not just as the geographical heartland, but as the heart and brain of the digitized world.”

The center will serve as a start-up “accelerator,” Timashev said, where students and faculty will receive support and guidance in entrepreneurial endeavors. With community partnerships and successful alumni recruitment, Timashev said he hopes the center will attract global start-ups to Columbus — where they will hire Ohio State-educated employees.

Ohio State recently received major donations from a variety of benefactors. Timashev gave $17 million in 2020 to the College of Arts and Sciences to support the construction of the Timashev Family Music Building. A company he founded, Veeam Software, also gave $5 million to support scholarships and research in data analytics and chemical physics at Ohio State.

“Together we will define and build out a new future for our university, community and the region,” Timashev said. “We will harness the creativity, optimism and momentum that is already pouring into Columbus.

In her first address to the board since announcing her intent to resign, Johnson commended Timashev for his vision for the future of Ohio State.

“Ohio State is better and stronger because of alumni like you, and because of you, Buckeyes will have so many more opportunities to shape tomorrow and launch the big ideas that will change the world,” Johnson said.

With his donation, Timashev joins the ranks of other individuals and corporations whose donations to the university top the $100 million mark. Ohio State’s most prolific donor, Les Wexner, gave $100 million to Ohio State in 2011, mostly to its medical center. The medical center was given Wexner’s name the next year.

In 2018, Ohio State Energy Partners, a private company charged with managing the university’s energy assets, donated $105 million to various colleges and departments.

Ohio State has $3.3 billion in construction projects in the works alongside the now pending center for software and marketing. These include:

Ohio State’s Combined Heat and Power Plant, budgeted for $289.9 million

Wexner Medical Center’s inpatient hospital, budgeted for $1.819 billion

A lacrosse stadium budgeted for $24 million

Wexner Medical Center Outpatient Care west campus facility, budgeted for $349.5 million

Ratmir Timashev is a globally recognized entrepreneur, technologist and philanthropist. He is the founder of Veeam Software — the global leader in cloud data protection and management software, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, as well as the Kubeshop software incubator. He spent many years starting his career and a family in Columbus, and now lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The impact of Ratmir’s leadership and philanthropy extends far across cultures and the globe.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ratmir and the Timashev Family Foundation initiated major contributions to various organizations operating on-the-ground in the region.

The Foundation supports Jose Andres and the World Central Kitchen, in order to ensure families and communities have access to warm meals and food security. The Foundation also supports the Aleph Institute, which is providing medical supplies and life-saving treatments to individuals in need.

Ratmir and the Timashev Family Foundation have also become a close partner of the Ohio State University. A champion and thought leader for technological innovation in the Midwest, Ratmir is transforming the university and region through state-of-the-art facilities, entrepreneurship, and a vision for what the future can hold.

In the Spring of 2022, Ratmir directed the Timashev Foundation to make a leading contribution to the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and their 2022 Folklife Festival. A staple event of the summer in Washington, DC that celebrates the rich diversity of cultures across the world, the Foundation’s gift helped enable the festival’s return to in-person.

The Foundation’s gift specifically supported “The Gifts We Carry: Sounds of Migration and Memory,” an evening kick-off concert organized by famous cellist and advocate Yo-Yo Ma.


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