At SET SEG we create leaders – leaders in the insurance industry and leaders within our own organization. With an executive team focused on creating an environment that empowers employees to learn and grow, we’re able to serve Michigan’s public schools that much better.

Our ability to provide so many valuable services to schools throughout the state is due, in no small part, to the fiercely talented individuals that make up this organization – and that includes SET SEG’s Chief Program Administrator, Amy Guilford.

Guilford oversees SET SEG’s property/casualty, workers’ compensation, and employee benefits programs, ensuring every level of our organization successfully functions to meet our operational, financial, and service benchmarks. Since her promotion to this role in 2016, Guilford has contributed to many of SET SEG’s successful movements in the school insurance space.

Failure Equates Growth

Guilford attributes much of her success to SET SEG’s institutional focus on empowerment. With help from her mentors and predecessors, Guilford thrived in an environment that allowed growth and embraced learning through the experience of failure.

“If you work for an organization and leadership team that understands failure equates to growth, and you’re not punished or in fear of failing, it can be really empowering,” said Guilford. “I strive to foster that same culture and really grow the next generation of leaders.”

Q&A: Amy Guilford

Q: What do you most enjoy about your work?
A: I really enjoy the people I work with. We have an incredible team of people who are mission-driven, collaborative, and hard-working. Beyond that, I love working for an organization with its whole purpose to protect and support Michigan public schools.

Q: What makes SET SEG unique?
A: When you work for an insurance company, success is often defined by profit and financial benchmarks. But in our case, we don’t win if our schools don’t win. We aren’t capturing surplus in the form of shareholder equity. We’re returning it back to Michigan public schools.

I see SET SEG as a beautiful little gem inside the world of insurance, that not many people know about. It’s a niche area where we can do creative and innovative things for the sole purpose of protecting and servicing our members’ specific needs. That’s very different than your typical commercial insurance entity.

Q: What does it mean to you to work at SET SEG?
A: At the end of the day, it allows me to feel like I made a difference.

Both of my children have gone through the public school system, and I can certainly empathize and understand what school administrators and employees have on their plates. It feels good for me to know that everything we’re doing is to allow them to focus on what they do best.

Q: How have you made an impact at SET SEG?
A: I have worked for seasoned professionals early on in my career. I grew tremendously with that mentorship and now am in a position where I can help guide the younger generation. I get to pass along the technical knowledge I learned and foster new leadership and growth in others.

Q: What is your leadership style?
A: Highly collaborative. I tend to want more people in the conversation than less. I also really challenge my team to work together to bring me a recommendation. I trust them and want to empower them to use their skills and experience to find solutions we can all then review and discuss.

Empathy is also incredibly important and is two-fold. As a working mom, I empathize with other working parents, and I also understand many of the challenges facing public schools. Understanding the needs of my team as well as the needs of our members helps me to be a better leader.

We’re excited to add former Charlevoix-Emmet ISD Superintendent Jeff Crouse to the SET SEG team! After retiring from his storied career in education, he has recently joined SET SEG as a Sales and Product Development Specialist. Jeff will be assisting in the development of SET SEG’s many offerings, as well as providing additional support to the districts in his region.

While Jeff is new to the SET SEG Sales Team, he’s anything but a stranger to the organization. Jeff was the president of the SET Board of Trustees and, like many other superintendents of Michigan public schools, has worked closely alongside SET SEG for years.

Prior to SET SEG, Jeff has been in an education setting for many years, most recently as the superintendent of Charlevoix-Emmet ISD, but also as the CFO for both that district and Reed City. Jeff originally started out in finance, working in banking for years, but as the industry started to change, he was drawn back to a very familiar place: “Schools are kind of our family business – my dad, uncle, and grandpa were all superintendents and my other grandpa was a school master; it runs in the blood,” said Jeff. Even his sister recently signed on as the superintendent for Reese Public Schools, keeping the family business alive.

With a generational history in education, transitioning to a role at SET SEG when it became time to retire as superintendent made perfect sense. “I’ve always been interested in helping out schools no matter who they are – that’s kind of the mindset of being at an ISD,” explains Jeff. “You’re out there to help the 11 or 12 districts you’re serving and be a supporting partner and I think this is an extension of that kind of role.”

In addition to his many responsibilities supporting member districts at SET SEG, Jeff enjoys the outdoors, regularly playing golf and spending time boating. With three children, all of whom participate in sports, he also finds himself steeped in the school sports world, helping coach and acting as President of his local little league.

Those of us at SET SEG recognize that the only way to offer best-in-class service is to hire employees that truly understand the state of public education in Michigan. Jeff joins a significant number of former superintendents and Michigan public school personnel who have chosen to support member districts with a career at SET SEG. We are proud to offer our members support from knowledgeable representatives like Jeff and are excited to add him to the team.