Leadership Spotlight: 5 Questions with Scott MacLellan

Scott serves as Chief Executive Officer for TouchPoint Support Services, Morrison Community Living, and Bateman Community Living, providing a variety of services to hospitals and senior living facilities across the country. An unwavering champion of the foodservice, environmental, and healthcare industries, Scott has spent his entire 35 year career in these fields. Previously, he was CEO of Morrison Management Specialists, leading the company to double in size in just seven years. Before that, he was Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Foodbuy. He has raised substantial funds for multiple non-profit organizations and is the author of three books, including “Amanda’s Gift,” a book dedicated to serving the parents of seriously ill children.

1. Which non-profit mission do you feel most committed to supporting?
I serve on the board of a number on non-profit organizations, but the one most relevant to our business was the 10 years I spent on the Foundation Board at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, one of Morrison’s customers.

2. How did you become personally invested?
My youngest daughter had survived cancer three times by the age of seven. She’s had two liver transplants and over 150 surgeries in her lifetime. So naturally, I have a deep affinity towards children with serious illness and their families. I know what it’s like to live moment by moment, wondering what the next bit of news will bring, or what challenges your child will face when the morning comes.

3. What do you do to show your support?
I support all the Boards where I serve with my time, attention, prayers and finances. But I think the real support comes when you invest personally in the people whom these boards serve. It’s one thing to write a check, or attend a meeting; it’s altogether different to share in the lives and the experience of people in need. When you experience that need firsthand, your service to the organization ramps up to a completely different level.

4. Can you share a story when you realized your efforts were making a difference?
It is easy to see how these amazing organizations realize their purpose by serving those they were created to help. You can see that difference firsthand. And I’m incredibly honored to play some very small role in that. But I think the moment that hit me the most, actually, was when my oldest daughter posted on social media that I was traveling on a mission. I hadn’t even thought about the impact this work was having on my own family. It really gave me one of those “gut” moments when you realize something bigger than yourself is happening.

5. Why is it important to you to give your time to others?
We live day to day in the service industry. Every day I am inspired by what our people do to serve patients and residents at some of their most vulnerable moments. When you spend your days watching people with compassionate hearts touch the lives of people at the soul level, it’s hard not to turn around and do something yourself. When you talk to these amazing associates, all of them will tell you that giving to others enriches their lives even more. I think that’s part of the mystery of life. It is in giving that we receive.