Big companies have rushed to assess whether top employees have enough protection after the killing of an American Insurance executive in New York sparked widespread concern about corporate security.
The heads of security groups on both sides of the Atlantic raced after Wednesday’s shooting to share intelligence and make inquiries with specialist firms about how to protect top executives, industry insiders said.
After that comes a sudden focus on corporate security Brian Thompsonhead of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance unit, was fatally shot at dawn as he walked alone to a corporate gathering in midtown Manhattan.
New York City police were involved in a massive manhunt Thursday for a suspect in the shooting, which authorities described as a “premeditated, targeted attack.” Bullet casings found at the scene were scrawled with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “remove” — in a possible allusion to the book about the insurer’s alleged denial of claims.
The attack on a high-profile U.S. executive prompted dozens of security officials at major companies in the U.S. and U.K. to convene on Wednesday to understand what risks they are exposed to and how to mitigate them, said Dave Komendat, a former chief security officer at Boeing and founder of consulting company DSKomendat Risk Management Services.
“Could this happen to us? What are we not doing today that we could? These are the questions that the Chief Security Officers are asked by their committees,” said Komendat.
Brian Stephens, a former top security official at Bank of America who now works at the consultancy Teneo, added that the shooting was “a very tough wake-up call. . . many security leaders in these organizations are drawing attention to things they’ve been talking about for a while”.
Allied Universal, a major security firm, received hundreds of calls from potential and existing clients after Wednesday’s incident, said Glen Kucera, the group’s head of enhanced security services.
UnitedHealthThe blue-chip company, which provides health and insurance services to tens of millions of Americans, did not disclose its security spending in regulatory filings before Wednesday’s incident.
Several people who saw CEO Andrew Witty at public events last year said he had only a small security detail. However, he is required to use the official aircraft when traveling for business as a safety precaution and has been encouraged to use it on leisure trips. The Minnesota-based company did not respond to requests for comment on its security posture.
Kucera said it was not unusual for Thompson, a lower-level official than Witty, to have no security detail, adding that many executives “walk around New York unprotected.”
However, personal security is taken as a default by executives in “controversial businesses,” such as social media, or those with a large public profile “like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase,” he said.
He added: “An event like this will certainly make companies rethink what they are doing to protect their executives.”
Many large companies have significant budgets allocated to insuring top executives, according to regulatory filings.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is considered one of the biggest recipients of security spending, with the social media group shelling out more than $9 million for his personal security last year. It also provided an allowance of $14 million for additional security costs “related to the personal security of Mr. Zuckerberg and his family.” The company said the spending was in response to “specific threats.”
Pharmaceutical groups Pfizer and Moderna have increased spending on security in the wake of the pandemic, and their senior executives are accompanied by bodyguards at all public events, people familiar with the matter said. Last year, Pfizer spent nearly $800,000 on security services for CEO Albert Bourla.
Moderna approved providing personal and home security to certain executives in 2020. The filing said the decision was made “in response to the increased profile of our company and our executives as we pursued the development of a Covid vaccine. 19″.
Its latest regulatory filing revealed $1.1 million in security costs for Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel, but nothing for its other directors.
Protests against controversial global events, such as the Gaza war, have often targeted businesses, another factor that has helped boost demand for security over the past year, according to Jason Towse, head of business services at UK security group Mitie.
“Because of the incidents in Israel, we are providing services to senior executives in the UK who are from those areas,” he said. “People feel vulnerable.”
One defense executive, who has also come under fire during the Gaza war, said he recently moved because his address was compromised. The CEO added that he wanted the company to gain a greater public profile, but that was not possible due to the risk of greater exposure for him.
Last year, BlackRock more than tripled home security spending for Larry Fink to nearly $600,000 after the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager became a target of anti-“revival” activists. About $217,000 was also spent on his bodyguards.
But no recent incident has garnered as much attention as the Manhattan CEO murder. Towse said companies will now ask, “What security procedures do we have in place to mitigate this threat?”
Additional reporting by Josephine Cumbo and Ortence Aliaj in London, Laura Pitel in Berlin and Joshua Franklin in New York
