Alumni
Profiles of Success
Scott Serota
President and Chief Executive Officer
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
As President and Chief Executive Officer of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association, Scott Serota is in a unique position to have a major impact on
healthcare and healthcare policy in the United States. He regularly collaborates
with members of Congress, federal regulators, legislators, and all levels
of the President's Administration on healthcare policy issues.
He looks for innovative ways to deliver and finance healthcare for the 89
million--nearly one-in-three Americans--served by Blue Cross and Blue Shield
plans across the country. He also works closely with the CEOs of the 41 Blue
Cross and Blue Shield companies to ensure that all of the Blue plans are financially
strong, deliver excellent service to their customers and are recognized leaders
in their communities.
Serota attributes much of his success as a national healthcare leader to the
strong foundation and education he received at Purdue as a biology major.
Armed with a degree and hard science background, he pursued another field
of interest, political science, which eventually led to the healthcare field.
"When I was at Purdue, I did some work with several professors in the
social science area that I would not have been able to do had I not had training
in biology," he said. "I was a much more effective assistant and
had a better understanding of what was going on because of my background in
biology and knowledge of the human body and its systems."
Undergraduate projects in areas such as smoking and aging piqued Serota's
interest in healthcare administration. From Purdue, he went on to earn a master's
degree in Health Administration and Planning from the Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1979. A postgraduate fellowship at the
Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, led to his first position in
the healthcare field as Assistant Administrator of the Center.
He later created and led Physicians Preferred Health Inc., a Missouri-based
PHO, and then served as Vice President at PruCare in St. Louis and at The
Prudential Insurance Co. in Chicago. From 1993 to 1996, he was President and
CEO of Chicago-based Rush Prudential Health Plans, before joining Blue Cross
and Blue Shield Association as a senior officer. He was named Chief Operating
Officer of the Association in 1998 and elected President and CEO in 2000.
Reflecting on his career path and educational experience, Serota cautioned
students not to be overly concerned with employment. "My philosophy
with regard to undergraduate education is, study something you're passionate
about and don't worry so much about getting a job. If you study something
you have passion about, you will succeed." The analytical skills education
provides are more important than particular subject expertise, he said. Along
these lines, he advises students that biology is "not a 'narrow' background,
but rather a discipline that can open the door to much broader horizons."
Biology certainly opened doors for Serota and gave him the skills he needed
to succeed.