The Scene
The fatal attack on Brian Thompson, who led UnitedHealth Group’s insurance arm, and new details about his lack of personal protection measures, has companies reevaluating their security protocols amid rising populist violence.
Thompson was fatally shot outside of a Manhattan hotel last week while walking to the company’s annual investor conference in what police say was a premeditated attack. The executive wasn’t accompanied by security detail despite having previously received threats, NBC News reported.
“My initial reaction was, ‘Wow, a CEO of a major company just walking down the street by himself in Manhattan,’” John Torres, a former Department of Homeland Security agent and now an executive at security provider Guidepost Solutions, told Semafor.
About 24% of CEOs and 16% of other executives at S&P 500 companies have personal security paid for by their companies, according to insurer Willis Towers Watson. Meta spent $24.4 million on security for Mark Zuckerberg last year, some of which went to the CEO’s travel by private jet — an expense Meta and other companies justify because of safety concerns. That leaves a huge portion of the most influential business leaders in the world vulnerable to an attack.
The latest deadly event is likely to beef up security across the industry, especially as anti-corporate sentiment runs high after a particularly punishing stretch of inflation. Some have celebrated the killing as retaliation on an industry that causes harm to average Americans, which could spur copycat killers, or at the very least boost demand for bodyguards.
“When businesses abandon core principles of ethics, they can encourage others to do the same,” Tim Wu, a former top policy advisor under the Biden administration, said in a post on X, which is no longer available.
Guidepost’s phones have been “ringing off the hook,” asking if it can provide executive protection and threat monitoring, Torres said. Since Wednesday morning, Allied Universal has added executives from five Fortune 500 companies as clients for full-time executive protection, said Glen Kucera, the security provider’s president of enhanced protection services.
“Unfortunately, sometimes it takes an event like this to shock people into reality,” he told Semafor.
Step Back
Thompson’s death comes at a time when populist and political violence appears to have increased in the US.
President-elect Donald Trump was the target of three purported assassination plots on the latest campaign trail, two from alleged domestic actors and one from Iran. Companies are increasingly concerned about the safety of their top executives, with boards boosting home security benefits for executives in recent years.
Not every executive needs security, said Kucera, but companies do need to be analyzing the safety risk surrounding every public-facing executive so they can employ personal security when the time is right. That risk consulting includes tracking social media and the dark web, as well as monitoring travel, particularly overseas, where kidnapping for ransom has long been a threat.
Corporate lawyer Frank Aquila, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, called Thompson’s death a “call to action” in a LinkedIn post. “Their protection is not just a matter of personal security, but also ensures business continuity,” he wrote.
Know More
Written on the bullets shot at Thompson were the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” which echo words describing a playbook insurers use to avoid paying claims. While the motive of the gunman is still unclear, the messages signal the shooter may take issue with the insurance company or industry.
“The rhetoric is more heated. People get caught up in their own echo chambers on social media,” Torres said. “Executives who are high profile or faces of their company need to be thinking more carefully about this.”