People to Watch: Crosby prepares to capitalize on Mote's fundraising campaign

Michael Crosby, CEO and president of Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, is excited to be nearing the completion of the largest fundraising campaign in the history of the organization.

That wasn’t necessarily a high bar to clear, because it was also Mote’s first comprehensive fundraising effort. Still, the research institution set an aggressive $50 million goal when it announced its Oceans of Opportunity campaign in early 2015. Already, it has raised more than $40 million, including eight gifts of $1 million or more.

For Crosby, the new year offers an opportunity to put that pot of money into action. Mote has adopted a series of goals for growth it hopes to achieve by 2020, and the Oceans of Opportunity campaign will help bring those goals to fruition.

“2016 is going to be a time when we’re going to renew and even strengthen our focus on the next generation,” Crosby said. “That’s really what the campaign is about — it’s about the future.”

Mote seeks to expand all arms of its operation, which includes five campuses across Florida. In December, the organization received a $2 million donation toward a new facility in the Florida Keys that will focus on coral reef research and restoration.

Crosby is focused on making Mote’s research facilities a center for innovation in marine science, and hopes to capitalize on academic efforts to create practical products as well. 

He highlights the 2015 Gulf Coast Innovation Challenge as representative of the type of work in which Mote can specialize. There, Mote scientists contributed to projects focused on sustainable fish farming, water filtration and advances in medicine.

“The support that comes in is absolutely vital if Mote is going to continue as an independent organization, so that we have the freedom to conduct extremely innovative and potentially transformative science,” Crosby said.

On a local level, that means hiring 10 additional Ph.D. scientists to work in its City Island facility. Mote hopes to nearly double its economic impact of $86.8 million in Florida, $70 million of which is concentrated in Sarasota County.

“A strong Mote means a strong community here in Southwest Florida,” Crosby said. “We’re a very significant component of the overall economic engine already.”

Expanding research work at the City Island facility necessitates moving the aquarium to a new location, Crosby said. In 2013, Mote attempted to secure bayfront land near the Van Wezel for a new aquarium but was rebuffed by the city. At the time, Crosby said the organization would move swiftly to find a new location for the aquarium.

More than a year later, there’s still no update on where that new aquarium might be located. Mote has determined the Sarasota mainland is best for attracting visitors to the informal science education center. As the city works on developing a master plan for the bayfront land Mote sought, Crosby is no longer ruling out a bayfront aquarium as a possibility, although alternatives exist.

“There are also other options that we must look at, keeping in mind the goal is not for Mote to build its new science education and aquarium campus on a particular location,” Crosby said. “It’s to select the one that will help us best achieve our goals and will best serve our community.”

Although speculation about an aquarium site often generates the most attention from the public, Crosby said each element of the organization’s 2020 vision carries its own significance. 

“When you have a strategic plan, you have to stay focused and be very methodical,” Crosby said. “We can’t get sidetracked and go off on tangents. It’s like building a new house — you have to build it brick by brick by brick, lay a good, strong foundation.”