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Tampa Bay Ethics Award

This award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated integrity, virtue and character.

Featuring the 30th recipient: Mike Bedke

The Center for Ethics presents an opportunity to honor a pillar of ethical leadership in the Tampa Bay community, Mike Bedke. Bedke represents clients in all aspects of real estate and commercial financing work. He has significant domestic and cross-border experience with transactions involving data centers, public-private partnerships and infrastructure projects. His experience includes data centers, rail, ports, airports, marinas, toll roads, renewable energy, university housing and research facility related matters as well as stadium, ballpark and arena projects. His clients include institutional lenders, investors, developers/owners, and management companies in the ultra-luxury hospitality, transportation and technology sectors.

Bedke has been involved in a number of PPP and private concession deals, including toll road and rail projects; lead counsel in the Miami Heat American Airline Arena Project; and various "Great Wheel" Projects (iconic observation wheels constructed around the World).

Bedke is nationally recognized for his pro bono work, in particular for providing free legal assistance to veterans, disaster victims, defending the rights of victims of domestic violence and advocating for children.

After assisting in the aftermath of both Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Iniki, the method Bedke honed under these circumstances has become the national template for providing pro bono legal services to victims of disasters.

Bedke is also widely regarded as one of the most prominent male voices in the US in the battle against domestic violence.

Bedke has also been involved in an array of other pro bono matters. He founded the Project to Assist Persons with AIDS, which is now operated by Bay Area Legal Services. He also founded Hillsborough County's Courthouse Walk-In Project, a program for the working poor which has since been replicated in about two dozen locations around the country and has assisted over 100,000 pro se litigants in Hillsborough County alone.

The luncheon and award ceremony will be on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, at noon. Register below!