Lori Cote Miller
Changing the Face of Leadership
This is Lori. She’s our new accountant. Do anything she tells you to do.
By any measure, Lori Cote Miller’s introduction to her new colleagues in the accounting department at Yellowstone Electric was awkward.
“I still remember that uncomfortable moment — with all five staff members staring back wondering, ‘Who is this?’” Lori says.
The year was 1994. Lori, though relatively young, had an impressive resume. Several years earlier she had earned an accounting degree from Montana State University. Afterward, Lori moved to Menlo Park, California, to gain experience at a public accounting firm — one of the requirements for becoming a certified public accountant.
She went on to work at a private energy company before making the decision to return to Montana. By this time, not only did Lori have extensive experience in accounting, but she also brought leading-edge knowledge about computers and software — a technology then in its infancy.
Lori smiled back at the accounting staff. As she did, she noticed the department’s lone computer sitting atop a credenza in the corner, unplugged. She would later learn that the office manager “did not like computers,” and felt the current accounting process was working just fine.
But Yellowstone had hired Lori to computerize the entire accounting system.
