Charles Starnes
Chip began his healthcare where he joined a publicly traded company in Jacksonville, FL. In 2001, Chip Co-Founded Specialty Medical Supplies U.S. in Coral Springs, Florida. Also that same year, he designed and patented his first product, the “Safety Seal Lancet”. This went on to become one the largest produced diabetes blood lancets in the world and reached demand of more than one billion pieces annually. In 2003, he Co-Founded Specialty Medical Supplies, Beijing, Private. Ltd. and spent the next several years building it into one of the largest diabetes related manufacturing facilitates in the world. The factory consisted of 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space and more than five hundred employees that produced multiple product lines of plastic related devices and sterile wet products such as alcohol prep pads. After spending more than a decade in China, Chip made international headlines in June of 2013 when his factory aggressively turned on him and took him hostage. He was held in confinement at his manufacturing facility in Beijing for seven days on rumors that the entire factory was relocating to India and employees were going to be left without severances. Even though this rumor was false, Chip was forced to pay a significant ransom in order to guarantee his safety and freedom. The Chinese police, local China government and U.S. Embassy offered little to no help throughout the ordeal.
