For 20 years Brian Thompson, the healthcare executive killed in a Manhattan shooting on Wednesday, climbed to the top of UnitedHealthcare.
The 50-year-old chief executive of the main division of the conglomerate UnitedHealth Group, the US’s largest health insurer, was gunned down in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning by a masked assailant in what police are calling a “brazen targeted attack.”
An alumnus of the University of Iowa, Thompson joined the company in 2004 from accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was named chief executive officer for UnitedHealthcare in April 2021 after serving in several other roles, most recently as chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare’s government programs business.
UnitedHealth Group is the fourth-largest public company in the US behind Walmart, Amazon and Apple.
A father of two, Thompson lived in a suburb of Minneapolis, about a 20-minute drive from the company’s headquarters.
His wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that her husband had been receiving threats.
“There had been some threats,” she said. “I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.” She said police had told her the shooting was “a planned attack”.
“He was a good person and I am so sad,” Elena Reveiz, Thompson’s sister-in-law, told the New York Times.
Thompson, who managed a division employing about 140,000 people, had been attending the company’s investor conference at the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan. He was shot outside the hotel and died later in hospital. Police are still searching for his killer.
“We are deeply saddened and shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare,” the company said in a statement.
The firm added: “Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him. We are working closely with the New York police department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time. Our hearts go out to Brian’s family and all who were close to him.”
