Police continue to search for the man who shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in what appears to be a rare targeted assassination against a company executive. But violent threats against healthcare industry executives have been on the rise for years, according to a security specialist at the risk advisory firm Kroll.
Matthew Dumpert, a managing director at Kroll covering business risk management and a former special agent with the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, said he’s seen more threats across industries, but there’s been a spike in threats against healthcare executives in particular.
“The healthcare and health sciences sectors are some of the most impacted because of the nature of their business, because they intersect with families at their time of real despair and need,” said Dumpert, who’d previously run personnel security operations for the U.S. government in Iraq and Libya.
The threats are coming from a variety of sources, Dumpert told Forbes, many sent via social media, email and untraceable phones, and sometimes from groups operating on the dark web.
Since Thompson’s killing, Dumpert said his phone had been “ringing off the hook” with questions from clients about upping their security; Kroll offers security services to a range of clients, from venture capitalists and private family offices to law firms and places of worship. “The emails have been flooding in, of course, from healthcare,” he said. “Since this incident, clients in all industries, including the executives themselves, are reaching out directly and asking, what do we need to do to be better positioned to defend our people and defend our reputation?”
Companies are increasingly looking to either build their own or outsource their intelligence networks, keeping tabs on where threats are being made and then triaging in real time to decide which to take seriously, he said. This would not be dissimilar to police intelligence centers, commonly referred to as Real-Time Crime Centers.
“It’s really important for companies and corporations and high net worth families to have … a threat intelligence apparatus that helps them really understand, are there groups, are there people, or are there movements out there that may be conspiring against them?” he said. “It has to be around the clock, 24/7 to make informed decisions about risk and protection.”
Early reports indicated that Thompson did not have any kind of security with him when he was gunned down outside a Hilton hotel in Manhattan on the day he was due to attend his company’s investor conference. He had a security detail assigned to his New York trip, according to CNN, citing an anonymous source, but they were not with him at the time. “At that hour of the morning in a major city, I would have expected one of our clients to have a more recognizable security posture around them,” Dumpert said.
Thompson’s wife told NBC News that he had previously received threats, without providing specifics.
UnitedHealthcare did not immediately respond to a comment request.
High level executives, from Mark Zuckerberg to Jeff Bezos, often hire personal security, and many large firms spend hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars protecting their top people. Per SEC records, Meta has spent over $20 million every year for the last three years for Zuckerberg’s personal security. By comparison, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google owner Alphabet, was given a personal security budget of $6.8 million in 2023, while Apple CEO Tim Cook was granted $820,000. UnitedHealthcare does not release information about what it spends on executive security.
The manhunt to track down Thompson’s killer is still ongoing. Police reportedly found bullet shell casings that had the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” — apparent references to how insurance companies avoid paying out claims — at the scene. Recent data indicates that UnitedHealthcare has the highest claims denial rates in the country.
In a bid to identify the shooter, New York police have released images and footage of the suspect.
