Mote elects new board of trustees vice chairman

Mote Marine Laboratory has elected a new vice chair of its board of trustees.

Howard “Sam” Seider will step into that role, a statement from Mote said.

Re-elected officers Chairman Robert Essner, Treasurer Howard G. Crowell, Secretary Nigel Moud and Mote President and CEO Michael Crosby, will serve with Seider, who was elected in late May.

Seider, a chairman emeritus, active member of the Mote Marine Foundation Board and former chairman of Mote’s investment committees, has been a Mote trustee since 1997, the statement said.

Last year, he received Mote’s 20-year Volunteer Service Award.

But his connection to Mote began long ago.

His father was a friend of William R. Mote, who was Mote’s first president and major benefactor. Along with the board of trustees, Seider serves on Mote’s audit committee, Mote Marine Foundation Board, is vice chairman of the development committee and will become the chairman of the executive committee, the statement said.

Seider and his wife, Dorene, are members of Mote’s Legacy Society and are fund-holders at the Manatee Community foundation.

“It’s important to me that my children adopt the passion I have for the ocean and get engaged in protecting our waters,” Seider said in the statement. “Dorene and I want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the same quality of our region’s natural environment as we have, and we continue to support Mote to maintain this quality.”