Tampa Bay Ethics Award

Featuring the 29th recipient: Dotti Groover-Skipper

The Center for Ethics presents an opportunity to honor a pillar of ethical leadership in the Tampa Bay community. This year we are honoring the founder of HeartDance Foundation and human trafficking advocate, Dotti Groover-Skipper.

Since graduating from the University of South Florida, Dotti Groover-Skipper has facilitated expert programming to drive positive policy changes in substance abuse, addiction and the sex trade. She has also helped develop numerous sustainable community coalitions. She is the founder of HeartDance Foundation, dedicated to supporting individuals recovering from the sex trade industry, labor exploitation, addiction, incarceration and other traumatic life experiences. Groover-Skipper is an ordained elder and missionary who has operated at the national level to mobilize faith communities to engage in addiction, human rights and justice issues.

She was first appointed to the legislatively established Florida Statewide Council on Human Trafficking by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, serving from 2014 to 2018. She was then reappointed and served from 2018 to 2020. Groover-Skipper serves on various local boards and is the immediate past chair of SAFE Tampa Bay. In 2022, she was recognized as a “Woman of Impact” and one of the “100 Women to Know in America” by the National KNOW Women organization. In March 2023, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. In February 2024, Groover-Skipper had the honor of presenting a TEDx Talk focused on human trafficking.

The luncheon and award ceremony will be on Friday, April 11th, 2025, at noon. Register below!