Slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO raises security concerns as some companies take down leadership pages

CT Insider – Friday, December 6, 2024
By Paul Schott

The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday in Manhattan has sparked renewed scrutiny of corporate executives’ security, a concern that extends to Connecticut because of the presence of UnitedHealthcare and many other large companies in the state.

Police are still searching for the gunman wanted in connection with the slaying of Thompson, 50, who was killed while walking to an investor meeting. But his death has already generated debate about how companies might bolster workplace security, particularly the protection of their top executives.

“I think it is going to trickle down to a number of industries, beyond health care,” Bobby McDonald, a lecturer at the University of New Haven and a retired supervisory Secret Service agent, said on Friday. “Executive protection often finds its way to the cutting room floor because it doesn’t make money, it costs money. But there is no question that after this week, corporations are going to have to take these situations more seriously.”

In Hartford, where UnitedHealthcare and a number of other large insurers have offices, police said that they often coordinate with companies on workplace security. Shareholder and investor meetings are among the events that might have a police presence.

“The police department will provide presence/security for corporate events or incidents when prompted by the involved companies, usually when they reach out and let us know that they are having an event or incident and have concerns,” said Lt. Aaron Boisvert, of the Hartford Police Department. “Another situation would be if we have received some intelligence (such as a protest/labor demonstration) of something happening.”

In Farmington, where health insurer ConnectiCare is headquartered, “we don’t have knowledge of any threats against businesses or individuals in Farmington in connection with insurance carriers,” said Lt. Matthew Corcoran, of the town’s police department.

One simple, but noticeable, change that some companies, including UnitedHealthcare, have made since Wednesday is the removal of pages with top executives’ biographies and pictures. On Google, a link to executive biographies on the website of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, now redirects to a page with a “page not found” message.

Similarly, links shown on Google for executive biographies on the websites of Manhattan-based Emblem Health and Indianapolis-based Elevance Health now redirect to unrelated pages. Emblem is the parent company of ConnectiCare, and Elevance is the parent company of Anthem, which leads health insurers operating in Connecticut with more than 1 million members in the state.

Among the websites of the largest publicly traded insurance companies that are headquartered in or have their largest offices in Connecticut, the sites of Cigna, The Hartford and W.R. Berkley each included executives’ biographies and photos, while Travelers’ site included biographies, but not photos, as of 2 p.m. Friday.

Before Thompson’s death, a number of the largest U.S. companies were already spending significantly on personal and residential security for their top executives. Meta Platforms, whose businesses include Facebook and Instagram, reported the highest spending last year on security for top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with such expenditures totaling $24.4 million in 2023, according to filings compiled by research firm Equilar. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, was a distant second, with executive-security spending last year totaling about $6.8 million.

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