Our Founder
Ted Bozarth
Founder, Chairman & Mentor
Ted Bozarth is the founder of SetFire Foundation and its flagship initiative, The Sparks Mentorship Program, a no-cost program connecting undergraduate students with experienced professionals. Both are built around a simple belief: experience has its greatest value when it is shared with someone who can use it.
Ted's instinct to teach and mentor started early. Growing up in Michigan, he taught computer programming as a teenager and launched an IT consulting business in his early twenties. Some of his most important lessons about helping young people find their direction, however, came through raising his two children, now adults. Watching them navigate the choices and uncertainty of building their lives reinforced his belief in the value of having experienced people in your corner.
After earning his degree in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University, Ted built a career spanning more than three decades in consulting and leadership roles with organizations including The Hershey Company, Miller Brewing, and Coca-Cola Consolidated. He led and influenced hundreds of professionals and developed two mentoring programs, including one involving a Big Ten university.
As retirement approached, Ted began thinking seriously about what he wanted his next chapter to mean. His experiences as a leader, mentor, and father came together around one question: How do I use what I've learned to make a meaningful difference in someone else's life?
That question became SetFire Foundation and the Sparks Mentorship Program. His two children were among the strongest influences behind his desire to create something that could give other young adults access to the guidance, encouragement, and perspective that can change the trajectory of a life.
For Ted, SetFire is not a path to another career or a source of personal financial gain. It is an opportunity to give away what took decades to learn.
SetFire represents the culmination of a lifetime of learning, leading, parenting, and mentoring—and Ted's belief that a successful life is about more than what you accomplish for yourself. It is also about what you ignite in others.
Our founder on the podcast of the Institute of Management Accountants
Meet the Team