Dennis C. Bottorff

Dennis C. Bottorff, a member of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust since 1990, received his bachelor of engineering from Vanderbilt in 1966 and his MBA from Northwestern University in 1968.
He began his career in banking in 1968 at Commerce Union Bank in Nashville and in 1981 became its president. In 1984 he was elected chairman and CEO of Commerce Union Corp. and Commerce Union Bank. When Sovran Financial Corp. acquired Commerce Union Corp. in 1987, Bottorff was named vice chair and director. He became president and chief operating officer in 1989. When Sovran was acquired by NCNB to form Nations Bank in 1991, Bottorff returned to Nashville to become president and CEO of First American. He stayed with First American (later AmSouth Bancorporation) until 2001. He is presently chairman of Council Ventures, a venture capital firm.

Bottorff has been active in a number of civic organizations, including serving as chairman of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. He also chaired the boards of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, the United Way, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Nashville Symphony, and the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. An avid sports fan, he has served on the board of the Sports Authority of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and on the Tennessee Titans Advisory Committee. In the business arena, he has served on the boards of directors of the American Bankers Association, the Jack C. Massey School of Business at Belmont University, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Leadership Nashville. He also serves as a director for Ingram Industries, Dollar General and Benefit Informatics.
He and his wife, Jean, have two children and three grandchildren.