Finding a perfect fit

After earning a master’s degree from Michigan State in 1985, Jamieson went to work for ChemLawn as a tree and shrub specialist in the Chicago area.

But he felt like he was spinning his wheels, moving further and further from his passion of urban forestry, until he met John Hendricksen, an arborist who had just merged his company with Larry Hall to form Hendricksen, The Care of Trees, in 1989. The company name was trimmed to The Care of Trees several years later.

That meeting generated a job offer for Jamieson to join the company. The spark of environmentalism that first ignited back on the sand dunes of his youth, then guided his soul through college and into the job market, was now a raging fire of professional passion. And the light given off is the beacon that now directs a national company.

“I was very fortunate that my values were the same as the values of the company,” Jamieson says. “It was a perfect match.”

He learned how to climb trees and lead a pruning crew. He led his own crew and ran one of the most profitable offices in the company. But to really make an impact, Jamieson knew he had a lot to learn. Not about trees and people, but about the business of business. He enrolled in DePaul University’s MBA program, trimming trees by day, taking classes at night.

He stood out in class

“I used to finish work smelling like sawdust, sweat and diesel fuel,” Jamieson laughs. “I’d run up the eight flights of stairs at DePaul in coveralls. I’d try to clean up as best I could using the restroom sink to ‘shower.’ Then I’d change clothes and try to look like everybody else in the class.”

But still he was different from the bankers and lawyers who populated his business classes. It didn’t take Jamieson’s sawdust, sweat and diesel cologne for him to recognize that.

“Yeah, I was different from them,” Jamieson says. “I think I was trying to expand my world, and I always felt the others were just trying to run away from something in theirs.”

He earned his MBA in 1994, became president of the company in 1998, and was named CEO in 2003.

Now, one of the most satisfying parts of Jamieson’s job is seeing his employees experience professional growth.

“I have worked to help build my team by helping the members to grow, all the while knowing that, as leaders themselves, they must never stop learning and growing. As a leader, my philosophy is simple: Find your passion, whatever it is, and do more of it, and always work to build trust and respect with others.”

Community work keeps

him busy

The father of two children, Jamieson teaches arboriculture at the Morton Arboretum and Chicago Botanic Garden in the Chicagoland area. He has instructed internships with the City of Chicago’s GreenCorps program — a welfare-to-work program centered on horticulture.

Jamieson is a founding teacher for the TreeKeepers program sponsored by Openlands in Chicago. In 10 years, the program has instructed more than 500 community leaders in Chicago on proper tree care.

“We try to get local people involved themselves,” Jamieson says. “We educate them and get them involved. If they take ownership of a project, then that project has a much better chance of succeeding.”

Because for Jamieson, it’s not just about the trees.

Contact Jamieson at scottjamieson@comcast.net