
By Lorie Ham
The end of 2024 brought a big change for Mennonite Aid Plan/Mennonite Insurance Services. Chief Executive Officer Jerry Linscheid retired on December 31 after working for the company since June of 2009. Kevin Lucke will be taking on that role in 2025. Before he left, we took a moment to chat with Jerry about his time with Mennonite Aid Plan (MAP) and his future plans.
Q: When you joined MAP in 2009, was it as CEO?
Jerry: I was hired to be the assistant manager to Ron Licata and to focus on church relations. However, Ron died on May 21, a few days before I began. That meant I began as general manager with no orientation or training.
Q: Why did you want to work there and how did that come about?
Jerry: I previously worked for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) out of their regional office in Reedley. I knew my time with MCC was coming to a close. A friend from church, Vern Warkentin, suggested that I apply for the assistant manager position at MAP. As assistant manager, I would use the many church connections I had made during my time with MCC. Vern was on the MAP board at that time. Vern also got me started with the Reedley Rotary Club, so I owe him a lot.
Q: Did you work at any other insurance companies before that?
Jerry: I had been a policy holder with MAP for many years, but had never worked in insurance. I am an attorney by training. That knowledge of contracts, business law, and litigation has come in very handy in this role.
Q: Why did you want to work in the insurance industry?
Jerry: I have heard that question asked many times of people in the insurance industry. Unless a parent is working in insurance, it is usually not something a person sets as their life goal. I sort of fall into that category as well. I was looking for meaningful work that would use my abilities. The position with MAP seemed to be a good fit and it turned out that it was.
Q: What have you enjoyed most about your working there?
Jerry: The people I got to know. We have an amazing staff. Many of them have been with the company longer than I have and helped me learn the insurance business. We have a board of directors that is very supportive and can walk the fine line between being helpful, but not micromanaging. We probably have the best customers of any insurance company. A lot of the insurance industry is based on trust. Things work so much smoother if you can trust what your customer tells you and they trust you to tell the truth and look out for their interests. And we have supporting people who are not our employees, but who do vital work for us. Our adjusters, financial advisors, insurance brokers, accountant, and others keep important aspects of the company on track.
Q: What has been the hardest?
Jerry: In the beginning everything was hard, because there was a steep learning curve. As I have gotten familiar with running the company, the hardest part now is telling a customer that their problem is not covered by their policy. My board has always told me to try and find a way to pay a claim. I have taken that to heart and have come up with some creative (but reasonable) ways to cover a claim. However, not every loss can be covered, and I have to explain why we can’t help.
Q: Can you share a favorite memory from working with MAP?
Jerry: One Sunday morning I got a call from a customer that their tree fell on their house during a windstorm. Before church, I went to the office to start the claim and sent it to our adjuster asking if he would be able to do anything on a Sunday. After his church service was over, he was able to inspect the damage and arranged for some temporary repairs to prevent further damage. After that, the claim proceeded normally. We do not make a practice of working claims on Sundays, but on that day, things fell into place, and we were able to get our customers the help they needed.
Q: What were your general duties as CEO?
Jerry: CEO is a fancy title. I started with the title of general manager and that is probably more descriptive. One of my main functions is to support my staff so they have what they need to work well. At one level, I do menial things like change the light bulbs, smoke alarm batteries, and take out the trash.
At a more managerial level, I negotiate the contracts for tasks I cannot do. My general philosophy is to ask others to do only those things I am willing to do myself. That being said, I quickly realized that there are a number of things others can do more efficiently (issue and endorse auto policies for example). I am happy to let the best person for the job do it.
I am the HR department, so run payroll, keep the employee handbook up to date, hire staff, and deal with internal employment matters. I am the Claims department, so all claims come to me. I handle the claim from start to final settlement. Claims are the reason we exist. I try to be the compassionate face of MAP when bad things happen to our customers.
In the past I have been more heavily involved in marketing. We now have a sales manager who does a much better job than I ever could. I handle most church policies, be that on the property or liability side. Of course, I report to our board of directors. When the Department of Insurance, or A.M. Best, or our reinsurance companies call, I am the one to respond.
Q: What has changed the most over your years of working there?
Jerry: One of the more obvious changes is our freedom from paper files and our reliance on the internet. We used to have a room full of files and a shed full of stored files. Now we generate a few boxes of paper a year. When the internet goes down, there is not much we can do for our customers. Almost everything is on the cloud.
Q: What are you most grateful for that you were able to work there?
Jerry: Everybody has their time to try and make things better. But MAP’s success is not due to one individual. Ninety years before I started, people worked at making MAP a company that could “bear one another’s burdens.” The building blocks were stacked one on another. So when I came, there was a solid structure to work from. Hopefully, I’ve left a few more building blocks in the right places for people coming after me on which to stand.
Q: What will you miss the most after you retire?
Jerry: This is the other side of the same coin where you asked what I enjoy about working at MAP. What I will miss are the people. I live close enough to the office to be able to visit once in a while. But it won’t be quite the same.
Q: What do you plan to do once you retire?
Jerry: I want to stay productive. I want to continue to be around people. And I want to remain active. Those goals might manifest themselves in more bicycling, returning to woodworking, and volunteering.
Q: Will you be staying in the area?
Jerry: Yes, we plan to stay in Reedley in the foreseeable future. Our church and family and friends are here.
Here are a few quotes from some of Jerry’s coworkers:
“I have worked with Jerry since his first day here,” says Dalia Jimenez. “Jerry had no insurance experience when he came here, and he learned from the bottom up and has done a great job. I have enjoyed working with Jerry all these years. He will be missed not just by me, but all the staff. I will miss smelling the coffee when I would get here in the morning—he would have a pot of coffee brewing.”
“I would have to say the best memory of working with Jerry would have to be that he can pretty much fix anything,” shares Claudia Fletes. “All he needs is his cup of coffee in one hand! We are sure going to miss him!”
“Jerry’s calm personality and kindness will be just two of the things I will miss when he retires,” states Michelle L. Heinrichs. “He could listen to a staff member or insured as they were dealing with a stressful situation and respond with kindness and grace that would often deflate the anxiety level. That is a gift.”
If you have a memory to share about Jerry, we would love to have you post it on the Mennonite Insurance Facebook page.