Finance Past, Future Focus: Lorry Bottrill ’90 BSBA (Accounting and Finance)

Like the rest of us, Lorry Bottrill ’90 BSBA (Accounting and Finance) has been busy navigating life and work from home since the nation was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic. But as president and CEO of Mercy Care, a nonprofit health plan, she’s also thinking beyond the current environment.

“From a pure leadership perspective, my role is about thinking ahead in how Mercy Care can best care for our members in the evolving health care world,” Bottrill says. “I have to focus on what’s next—building connections in the community, learning from others and setting the tone for our organization. COVID-19 is the problem today, and I’m proud of how our organization is managing through it, but I have to think about growing the business years from now and positioning us for the longer term ups and downs.”

It seems Bottrill has a natural inclination for looking forward. Even as an undergraduate student in finance and accounting at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, she says she always had her eyes on the future.

“As a student at Eller, I appreciated—even from an early point—the quality and caliber of the program,” says Bottrill, who credits her undergraduate experience for helping her to hone her leadership skills and navigate the business world. “In many ways, Eller was able to help me understand how what I was learning at the time would translate to career opportunities in the future.”

Those opportunities came quickly for Bottrill. In December of her senior year, she secured a job with Deloitte & Touche in Phoenix and, after graduation, moved north armed with her degree and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential. After four years with the firm, her career took an unanticipated turn toward the health care industry—where she has stayed for more than 25 years.

“I realized I could follow my passion for business and help people at the same time,” says Bottrill, who has served in leadership roles at PacifiCare Health Systems, UnitedHealthcare, Health Net and now Mercy Care.

“There is so much good work we’re doing for the most vulnerable members of our community—whether around housing or food security and not just traditional health care,” says Bottrill, who has been with Mercy Care since 2008, first as chief financial officer and then as chief operating officer before assuming her current role leading the organization. “Being in a job that meets my passion enables me to stay most engaged because I know I’m doing something that resonates with the core of who I am.”

Staying challenged and engaged is how she hopes her two sons, a high school senior and a pre-business freshman at Arizona, also approach their work lives. The latter is seemingly already following in his mom’s footsteps.

“I’m really proud to have my son at the university to share those great experiences, and more so to carry on at the Eller College in accounting,” Bottrill says. “The education and the preparation Eller gave me absolutely has helped me in my career, and I think he’ll be very prepared for his working life after he’s finished with school.”

For Bottrill, a successful working life also means a philanthropic one—giving back to her community is something she does both on and off the job. It’s been an integral aspect of her life since her days as a Wildcat—she spent many hours volunteering through her sorority and as an Arizona Ambassador.

“Giving back is so important, and it’s the right thing to do,” says Bottrill, who serves on the boards of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Arizona and the Foundation for Senior Living, and is on the executive leadership team for Go Red for Women.

“At Mercy Care, we log tens of thousands of hours of giving in the community, and as the leader of the organization it’s important to me to set that example—and in alignment with what I enjoy doing,” she says. “If college students and even younger kids get involved, too, maybe they’ll continue when they’re in the working world.”