Career

This chronology uses dates from LinkedIn unless another source is named. Titles on company websites sometimes differ in wording; both are kept.

Timeline

2002–2003 — Healthwise / FitnessRx

LinkedIn lists William C. Short as owner of Healthwise/FitnessRx (Overland Park, Kansas), December 2002–August 2003, and describes a production beta of disease-management software. The concept grew from a business plan developed with fellow Washington University students in The Hatchery. His team proposed employer-sponsored software intended to improve employee health, morale, and productivity while lowering healthcare costs.

He left WashU one semester early after completing his undergraduate requirements in December 2002 to pursue the concept full-time. Flaws in the business model forced the beta to close within approximately six months. His LinkedIn summary of the venture says it taught him that “people need incentive to change,” a lesson he carried into consumer-directed healthcare accounts.

2003–2005 — UMB Healthcare Services

LinkedIn lists Short as Director, UMB Healthcare Services, August 2003–December 2005. A.E. Perkins leadership says that at age 22 he worked on one of the nation's early Health Savings Account platforms at UMB.

An investigation of the Archer Medical Savings Account led him to UMB Bank, where he was hired to help build a healthcare-services group. True North Advisors reports that he identified an underused medical-savings program at UMB, wrote a white paper on the opportunity, and that leadership subsequently created UMB Healthcare Services.

American Banker reported that UMB had offered medical savings accounts in the 1990s, launched HSAs in early 2004 after federal authorization, provided HSA custody and investment services, and offered debit cards for FSAs and HRAs. UMB now describes multipurpose private-label benefit cards and HSA services on its Benefit Spending Accounts page. UMB materials also document an HSA money-market sweep and investment structure.

At UMB he helped create the bank's first “stackable” FSA card on the Visa network and an HSA with an investment sweep.

2005–2008 — First Horizon Msaver

LinkedIn: SVP, First Horizon Msaver (a division of First Tennessee Bank), December 2005–May 2008.

2008–present — Ameriflex

LinkedIn:

• CEO, May 2008–December 2019
• Executive Chairman, January 2020–June 2022
• Executive Chairman/CEO, July 2022–present (Dallas–Fort Worth)

Ameriflex About names him Executive Chairman/CEO. Workforce Go About calls him CEO and owner of Ameriflex. Ameriflex describes itself as a provider of FSA, HSA, HRA, COBRA, and related tax-advantaged accounts, founded in 1998, headquartered in Carrollton, Texas (myameriflex.com, aeperkins.co/our-brands).

The leadership page says he guided Ameriflex through a period of financial restructuring. That claim is the company’s own wording.

In 2016, as CEO of Ameriflex, Short was named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winner in the Southwest program (D Magazine; EY Southwest 2016 announcement). In 2020 the Fort Worth Business Press named him a 40 Under 40 award recipient (profile).

2012–present — Workforce Go

LinkedIn: Executive Chairman, CEO, and founder from January 2012. Workforce Go About describes him as founder and former Executive Chairman and CEO who helped scale payroll and HR solutions, and as currently Executive Chairman/CEO. The company is part of the A.E. Perkins family (Workforce Go About).

2015–present — Accresa

LinkedIn: Executive Chairman, CEO, and founder from January 2015. Accresa’s public site describes a platform that combines payment, billing, provider-network management, and member enrollment for subscription and direct primary care plans (accresa.com).

2021/2022–present — A.E. Perkins

LinkedIn: Executive Chairman, CEO, and founder of A.E. Perkins from January 2021. Workforce Go About: founded A.E. Perkins Holdings Group in 2022. A.E. Perkins About states the holding company is named for William C. Short’s great-grandfather, who founded an earlier A.E. Perkins Company that did not survive after his death; the current firm says it exists to build businesses that do not depend on one person.

A.E. Perkins publishes portfolio brands including Ameriflex, Accresa, Workforce Go, a captive insurer, Care Covered, a nonprofit for direct care, and A.E. Perkins Capital (our brands).

Other public affiliations

• YPO North Texas — LinkedIn: member from March 2011; chapter roles including membership chair, learning chair, and chapter chair (August 2018–August 2019). Wikipedia’s YPO article lists him among notable members.
• ECFC — LinkedIn treasurer, vice chair, and chairman of the board (through March 2018); Ameriflex About cites chair elections in 2014 and 2016.
• Employers Coalition for Direct Care — LinkedIn: Chairman of the Board from November 2019 (employersfordirectcare.com).
• UT Dallas EPPS advisory council — LinkedIn: June 2019–February 2023.
• Rock-n-Concepts LLC — LinkedIn: board member and co-founder from January 2013 (Lava Cantina, Pinks Pizza, Lola, and related entertainment venues).

Congressional appearance

U.S. House Ways and Means Committee hearing materials dated 16 May 2023 identify William Short, Executive Chairman, Ameriflex, as a witness on tax-advantaged accounts and direct primary care (PDF).