Mote named top revenue generating cultural nonprofit in Tampa Bay region
Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and CEO Dr. Michael Crosby were each recently recognized by two area publications for significant contributions.
Mote was named the top revenue-generating cultural nonprofit for the Tampa Bay region by the “Tampa Bay Business Journal.”
Crosby was named a 2023 Living Legend by “Florida Trend” magazine when it released its Florida 500 list of influential business leaders in the state. In 2020, Crosby was named among Florida Trend’s 500 most influential leaders in life sciences.
That puts Crosby in a lineup that includes Jeff Vinik, owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he was quick to stress that any accolades he earned are due to the overall success of Mote.
“That’s the big news,” Crosby said of the Tampa Bay Business Journal honor, then added that any individual accolades are “only happening because of my affiliation with this great institution and everything that it has done and all of the people here – the board of trustees, 300 staff, 10,000 members, 1,300 volunteers.
“Quite frankly it’s a reflection of this community; Mote is named the No. 1 revenue generating cultural nonprofit in the entire region because in great part, this community that has supported Mote for 70 years.”
That 70th anniversary isn’t technically going to occur until 2025 – the same year Mote officials anticipate the new $130 million Mote Science Education Aquarium will officially open at Nathan Benderson Park, following a soft opening in the center in the winter of 2024.
Mote SEA is projected to generate $28 million of economic impact to the region, with attendance figures doubling to roughly 700,000 visitors annually and serve as a science, technology, engineering and math hub for area schoolchildren.
“We named it a Science Education Aquarium for a reason – not just to have a snappy acronym – but it really explains the purpose of that facility is science education,” Crosby said. “Mote is all about the science and that new Mote SEA, that facility is really a highly visible gateway to all of the research enterprise of Mote and quite frankly, when we cut the ribbon at Mote SEA we are really cutting the ribbon for the future evolution of the Mote research and science and technology development enterprise for the next 70 years.”
Mote SEA will be the ninth campus. While it, too, will be a center for research, its completion will free space in the existing facility on City Island for expanded research there.
That’s in addition to the Mote Aquaculture Research Park off Fruitville Road and the Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration on Summerland Key.
Mote’s top ranking in the Tampa Bay Business Journal rankings – beating out facilities such as the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, the Clearwater Aquarium and the Dali Museum – is based on $44 million in revenue in 2022 by Mote.
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Crosby credited that to Mote’s process in research and technology development.
Research enterprise constituted about 70% of Mote’s $31 million operating budget, according to the 2022 annual report.
Crosby stressed that one of Mote’s main goals is to have research translate into breakthroughs that will improve quality of life, “and to have real impact in restoring and conserving and sustainably utilizing the world;’s ocean – and especially here in Florida – our coastal resources.”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Mote listed as top revenue-generating cultural nonprofit in Tampa Bay
