Mary Leary, Stephen Proctor, Scott Townsley and Gardner Van Scoyoc will be inducted into the Continuing Care Hall of Fame Nov. 5 in Chicago.
2023 marks the fifth ceremony for the honors, which are bestowed every other year by A.V. & Associates LLC as a way to honor individuals and organizations for their contributions to the development of continuing care retirement communities (also known as life plan communities) and continuing care at home programs.
This year’s honorees collectively represent more than 175 years of service to the senior living industry, according to A.V. Powell.
Mary Leary
Leary, president and CEO of Mather, became involved in senior living almost 40 years ago and has led Mather for more than 20 of them.
The Evanston, IL-based not-for-profit organization has two open CCRCs and one on the way, an independent living community, a research arm and community-focused programs. Before joining Mather, Leary was the chief operating officer of Classic Residence by Hyatt, the senior living affiliate of Hyatt Corp.
She is a member of the American Seniors Housing Association Executive Board, the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care Operator Advisory Board and the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures Advisory Board. Previously, she served on the board of Caring Communities Insurance Co. Leary also founded Novare, a national consortium of single-site and small-system life plan community providers, and she was the group’s chair for its first 10 years.
Leary earned a master’s degree in health policy and management from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree in business/health services administration from Cornell University.
Stephen Proctor
Proctor is the retired CEO of Presbyterian Senior Living. His career there spanned more than four decades, 24 of them as CEO, until his retirement in 2019.
Proctor began his time with PSL in 1971 as a registered nurse at the organization’s first nursing facility. Over the years, he also was an executive director and COO. Under his leadership, the organization grew to 3,000 staff members, serving more than 6,000 people in 32 locations, with a full mix of housing and service options for older adults of all income levels, including 12 life plan communities.
In addition to being an RN, Proctor was licensed as a nursing home administrator. He holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from Elizabethtown College and a master’s degree in gerontology from the University of North Texas.
Proctor is a former board chair of the organization now known as LeadingAge, was chair of the organization now known as the Global Ageing Network, and is a past board president and board member of the organization now known as LeadingAge Pennsylvania. He received LeadingAge’s Award of Honor in 2017.
Scott Townsley
Townsley is the retired managing principal of Third Age and Trilogy Consulting and has provided strategic insight to almost 1,000 nonprofit organizations.
Before forming Trilogy Consulting, he was the managing principal for Third Age. Townsley’s career also included time as a principal within the senior living practice of CliftonLarsonAllen and serving in management positions and as in-house counsel at Presby’s Inspired Life.
During his more than 35 years of involvement in senior living and care, he was instrumental in creating a structure for On Lok Senior Health Services, enabling replication of its Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. He also co-founded the Center for Innovation, which sponsors the Green House Project and Pioneer Network.
Townsley joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Erickson School of Aging Studies as an adjunct associate professor in 2010 and became a full-time professor of practice in 2017. There, he has led graduate courses on strategy, entrepreneurship and innovation and has advised students on capstone and other academic projects.
He holds an undergraduate degree in business and administration from Drexel University and a law degree from Villanova University and has been licensed as a nursing home administrator.
Gardner Van Scoyoc
A.V. Powell & Associates describes Van Scoyoc as the “father of the modern CCRC housing model.”
When Goodwin House — what “A History of the Episcopal Church” describes as the third CCRC in the country and the first initiated by a church — opened in 1967 in Alexandria, VA, Van Scoyoc was the first administrator.
Van Scoyoc was an Episcopal priest and director of Christian social relations for the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia when, in 1966, he resigned to contribute to the development of Goodwin House, according to parent organization Goodwin Living.
Van Scoyoc described Goodwin House as “a really new and exciting concept” in a 1968 diocese publication. “It is Mr. Van Scoyoc who has been responsible for the complicated details of planning for construction and operation of Goodwin House,” according to the publication.
The “entry-fee/monthly-fee concept and multilevel plan for meeting the needs of people as they age have both worked well, and he was always striving to enhance that model to answer the challenge of supporting low- and moderate-income people using charitable dollars,” according to A.V. Powell & Associates.
The actuarial company, however, said that Van Scoyoc may be best remembered “for his guidance to five Westminster Canterbury communities in Virginia” and noted that “Gardner’s firm also conducted hundreds of feasibility studies and consulting assignments related to the broad spectrum of services to the elderly.”
Van Scoyoc will be honored posthumously, as he passed away in August 2022 at age 91.
14 previously honored
A total of 14 others previously were honored at ceremonies held in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021.
The induction ceremony and reception are invitation-only events. For more information about the Continuing Care Hall of Fame, contact Thandi Nunn at [email protected] or (470) 387-8046. To learn more, visit CCHallofFame.org.
