At SET SEG, we put schools first every single day. We educate, empower, and serve Michigan public schools by offering benefits and services that keep schools safe and charitable contributions that support students within the state.

As the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer and Foundation Executive Director, Molly Mellema embraces the mission to put schools first through relationship development, brand awareness, and ensuring that schools’ unique insurance needs are met through our programs and initiatives. Mellema also serves as the Executive Director of the SET SEG Foundation, which operates with the mission to enable students to advance learning, leadership, and civic responsibility by providing financial support directly to public schools and students.

Giving Back to Schools

Leading the Foundation is a newer role for Mellema that allows her passion for schools and students to shine. SET SEG provides numerous services to districts at an administrative level, and the Foundation allows the organization to take on a different role, directly serving students and programs with financial awards and scholarships.

Mellema strives to be a positive influence for SET SEG staff, helping them grow and serve Michigan public schools. She extends that influence to the Foundation, both with increased employee involvement and student success. Through Mellema’s leadership, the Foundation instills the core values of the organization, supporting our public schools and making a significant impact on the future of every student.

Q&A: Molly Mellema

Q: How do you feel you make an impact through SET SEG?
A: Everything the Foundation does allows me to feel like I’m making a difference and impacting students’ lives. Through the Foundation, we strive to support school districts throughout Michigan with the MASB Education Excellence Awards. It’s a great example of how we work to impact K-12 students’ futures by providing opportunities for innovative programs and empowering them to become strong leaders. Additionally, the Foundation provides scholarship opportunities for leadership camps, career technical programs, and those going into the trades.

Q: What motivated you to become a leader at SET SEG?
A: Throughout my career I’ve found myself in various leadership roles. Most recently, however, I actively sought out a leadership role with the Foundation because I truly believe that there are so many opportunities to make a difference for students, and that is my motivation. My goal is to expand our fundraising so that we can make a bigger impact for even more students, particularly at the middle school level, as they are often underserved.

Q: What is your leadership style?
A: I grew up around coaches, so my leadership style tends to mirror that of a coach. You need to know what motivates each individual in order to get the most out of them. I also believe you need to empower people, so they feel like they have authority and decision-making abilities. For me, this means giving people the room to grow and learn to create ideas and solutions on their own by asking questions instead of trying to jump in with solutions.

Q: What does working at SET SEG mean to you?
A: To me, working at SET SEG means supporting Michigan public schools. That is my passion. When you look at my career, it has always revolved around schools in some way, shape, or form. Our organization invests in the future of schools. When you look at our Property/Casualty Pool, we are protecting buildings and property. Our Worker’s Compensation Fund protects educators and keeps them in front of students. And on the Employee Benefits side, we have the opportunity to work with employees on their health and wellness so they can continue to make an impact on students, the future leaders of our state, country, and beyond. Being involved in a company that does so much for public schools in Michigan is incredibly rewarding.

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.