A top risk management firm said U.S. CEOs and other executives are seeking additional security protections after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was stabbed to death on a New York street.
Matthew Dumpert, managing director of Kroll Enterprise Security Risk Management, said: "We have been contacted by CEOs, other executives and board members from yesterday to today asking for 24/7 enhancements to their own executive protections and to enhance their own personal security."
“Executives are the face of the company,” Templet said in an interview. “No matter what product or service is being sold, the CEO is a lightning rod for anger.”
Thompson's killing comes amid increased threats to the health care industry.
"The anger and hostility that our frontline health care workers experience every day in hospital critical care settings does extend to some extent into the insurance industry," Templet said. "That's because there are a lot of the same red flags of potential violence."
Thompson's company is a unit of UnitedHealth Group, the largest payer of Medicare benefits in the United States.
U.S. police believe the gunman who fatally shot 50-year-old Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Wednesday morning targeted him for some unknown reason as he was heading to a UnitedHealth Group investor meeting without any security.
But immediately after the shooting, the public speculated that Thompson's shooting was related to his company's relatively high rate of denying beneficiaries Medicare claims. As of Thursday afternoon local time, the gunman was still at large.
Chris Pearson, CEO of BlackCloak, which provides private digital security services to senior executives and their families, said Thompson's killing was unprecedented in recent American history.
"The loss of life here...the impact on family, business, friends is overwhelming, absolutely overwhelming," Pearson said in an interview.
Pearson said Thompson's killing could affect security arrangements for executives and how security companies assess their risk at public events, board meetings, conferences and speaking engagements "where their physical presence is known or may be expected."
"I think this is really a new risk that has to be considered today," he said.
Unlike some other executives in the health insurance industry, Thompson does not have a dedicated security staff.
Dunpert said companies seeking additional protection in the past 36 hours spanned a wide range of industries.
According to recent proxy statements, 20% of companies in the S&P 500 offer some form of security benefits to their CEOs. An analysis of data from market intelligence firm AlphaSense found that this number is about 7 percentage points higher than 10 years ago.