'A wake up call': C-suite security comes into focus after UnitedHealthcare CEO's death

In the wake of the premeditated fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, C-suite security is being scrutinized across industries, including healthcare.

On Dec. 4, dozens of chief security officers from some of the nation's largest companies met virtually to discuss new security measures for executives and to review current protocols, The New York Times reported.

"Many of my colleagues today are sitting down with their executive protection team leaders, their security leadership teams, and re-evaluating what they are doing and not doing," Dave Komendat, a former chief security officer at Boeing and president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, told The Times.

There is a bigger security risk for healthcare executives "because of the services that are being provided and the emotion that comes along with some of those services," he said.

UnitedHealth Group has taken down the photos and biographies of its executives online. CVS Health, Centene, and the BCBS Association have removed executive headshots from their websites as well, and Centene shifted its Dec. 12 investor conference to a virtual format.

According to the NYPD, Mr. Thompson did not have security with him when a masked gunman approached him at 6:46 a.m. outside the New York Hilton Midtown and shot him at least once in the back and once in the right leg. He was rushed to Mount Sinai West in critical condition but was later pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m. As of Dec. 9, the NYPD is actively searching for the suspect and has launched an ongoing investigation.

"We don't know the motivation. Certainly, if it's a personal motivation, that changes the landscape a little bit," Glen Kucera, CEO of MSA Security, told Fortune. "If it was motivated by the business that they're in, the healthcare business, or anything that could be related, then certainly that's a wake up call to a lot of CEOs and executives traveling throughout the country and the world."

UnitedHealth Group does not allocate funding specifically for executive security, according to the company's proxy statements. Other insurers such as Humana and Cigna Group do offer security as a benefit for executives, according to Bloomberg.

Home security spending for S&P 500 CEOs increased from 12.6% in 2020 to 15.7% in 2023, according to data from ISS-Corporate. Among large healthcare companies, executive security costs decreased from 0.8% in 2018 to 0.5% in 2024, according to Esgauge data.

In the past, some C-level executives also didn't want personal security.

"They think it's a violation of their privacy. They think it's a little pretentious. It draws attention to them. They think: who would want to hurt them?" Ed Davis of LLC Security and Management Consulting, told CBS News.

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