Meet The Founders
Shelly Starks | Co-Founder & CEO
Meet Shelly Starks, Co-Founder and CEO of Inline Consulting Services, a woman-owned and operated Managing General Agency specializing in niche, high-impact employee health benefit solutions.
Shelly received her MGA appointment from CEHAS Plan Administrators, LLC, a trusted Third-Party Administrator under The Capital Group of Companies, in March 2025. Since then, she has led the expansion of a nationwide distribution channel, forging partnerships with General Agents, GA benefit agencies, PEOs, and independent brokers who are committed to delivering compliant and financially efficient health benefit alternatives to employers.
With more than 25 years of global business experience, Shelly brings a rare combination of channel-building expertise, distribution strategy, and broker performance development. Known as a connector and strategic architect, she helps partners expand their offerings through innovative benefit solutions that protect margins, support employee well-being, and improve employer cost structures.
Driven by a belief that better benefits create better businesses, she leads Inline Consulting Services with a commitment to integrity, meaningful impact, and long-term partnership—elevating the standard of care and reshaping access to sustainable health benefit models across the country.
William “Skip” Townsend | Senior Finance & Operations Executive
Meet William “Skip” Townsend, Co-Founder of Inline Consulting Services, Inc. and a senior finance and operations executive whose career spans defense and aerospace, textiles, agriculture, cybersecurity, and healthcare. With 28 years of experience in Fortune 50 corporations and an additional 24 years as an independent consultant, Skip has guided private equity-backed and family-owned businesses through start-up operations, rapid growth, financial restructurings, and successful exit strategies.
Across his executive and advisory roles, Skip has developed deep expertise in aligning corporate finance with employee benefits strategy, compensation structures, and workforce retention frameworks to drive organizational performance and enterprise value. His experience includes comprehensive benefits plan design and cost management, M&A benefits integration and HR due diligence, growth and start-up workforce scaling, and retention and talent acquisition strategy.
Skip’s healthcare experience includes serving as CFO for multiple healthcare start-ups, where he led acquisition strategies involving Home Health and Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs), as well as capital-raising initiatives supporting the rapid growth of Chronic Care Management programs. This combination of financial leadership, healthcare experience, and human capital strategy gives Skip a unique perspective on the intersection between employee benefits, employer economics, and sustainable business growth.
As Co-Founder of Inline Consulting Services, Skip brings this financial and operational lens to the MGA business, helping ensure that the solutions Inline brings to market are evaluated not only as employee benefits, but through the broader lens of financial impact, operational scalability, workforce strategy, and long-term value for employers and distribution partners.