Mahadevan to retire as Mote president/CEO

Dr. Kumar Mahadevan will step down from his position as president and CEO of Mote Marine Laboratory in May.

Mahadevan will serve as president emeritus for at least the next two years, according to a prepared statement from Mote.

Dr. Michael Crosby, the laboratory’s senior vice president for research, will become Mote’s new president and CEO.

Mahadevan joined Mote in 1978 as a senior scientist and became its CEO in 1986, when Mote had an annual operating budget of approximately $2 million and 52 staff members. Today, the lab’s annual operating budget is more than $17 million, and its staff has more than 192 members.

Under Mahadevan’s tenure, Mote’s aquarium grew into a destination that now attracts more than 350,000 annually and expanded to include a 200-acre Aquaculture Park in eastern Sarasota County, research field stations on Pine Island in Charlotte Harbor and Summerland Key in the Florida Keys, satellite offices in Punta Gorda and Boca Grande and a second public outreach exhibit dedicated to coral reefs in the Eco-Discovery Center in Key West.

“Kumar’s tenure at Mote has been transformative,” said Bob Carter, chairman of Mote’s Board of Trustees in a prepared statement. “Under his leadership, Mote has grown from a small research group to a full-fledged scientific laboratory with a reputation for excellence — not just here locally or in Florida, but nationally and internationally as well. Mote has also gained a public aquarium that today is one of the region’s most popular attractions. We are deeply appreciative of his contributions and excited that he will continue to support Mote as the national scientific treasure that it has become.”

For more information, pick up a Feb. 21 copy of the Longboat Observer.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].