The fatal shooting of a UnitedHealthcare executive outside a New York City hotel in 2024 led many companies to reexamine their strategies for keeping their leadership safe.
“That murder was a watershed moment for executive security, broadly speaking,” said Jordan Arnold, co-founder of the New York City-based consulting firm Jetty Partners. “It is still very much shaping how organizations are thinking about the ways in which they protect their employees.”
A former prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Arnold through Jetty now provides such security-related services as helping companies identify and assess security risks and removing online data to limit executives’ digital footprints.
In a recent interview, Arnold discussed how the shooting reshaped companies’ security outlooks as well as some of the key issues for CFOs and boards to consider as they develop security plans in 2026.
The following Q&A has been edited for clarity and brevity.
CFO Dive: Immediately after the UnitedHealthcare shooting there were reports of companies looking for additional security protection. Was that change temporary?
Jordan Arnold: In some organizations, executive protection — both of the C-suite and of board members —wasn't previously seen as a true business continuity issue or enterprise risk. Now, by and large, it certainly is. And I think that organizations, at least from our vantage point, are taking a much more holistic, proactive approach to protecting their key people. I think first and foremost it’s a matter of humanity.
It’s also something that you want to do both for the people you seek to protect and to make sure that shareholders are confident that you are taking appropriate steps to protect the enterprise, from a valuation and market position standpoint. So I think there's multiple motivating factors driving the way in which executives and boards are now thinking about this issue.
CFO Dive: What does it take and cost for a company to put together a strong corporate security system?
Jordan Arnold: The costs of course are going to be a function of the number of folks you're protecting and how complex and layered a program you want to implement. The best programs are layered. What we're really talking about is intelligence-driven protection. There's definitely a trend towards firms investing more in threat intelligence, in digital monitoring, in understanding sentiment expressed. Online, especially in social channels and platforms, [they are] really zeroing in on predictive indicators rather than just staffing up with bodyguards and traditional physical protection.
CFO Dive: I’ve seen estimates that some S&P companies were paying $1 million a year. What does that get for you?
Jordan Arnold: It really depends on what the inputs are. It could get you any number of physical bodyguards. But again, to my earlier point, if they are not benefiting from a team feeding them intelligence about what they should be looking out for, about bonafide threats that might be out there, they may not be getting for that [one million dollars] nearly what they should, right? And so it's a really difficult question to answer. We have some small business clients who are getting incredible efficiency for their spend…It's never going to be inexpensive done correctly, that's for sure, but it’s not going to turn balance sheets upside down either.
CFO Dive: So what's the bare minimum that a company should get with regard to corporate security?
Jordan Arnold: If you're going to make one key investment right now, it would be in an assessment to understand, ‘How good are we at what we're doing here to protect our people and our organization’ and then to identify the critical vulnerabilities.
CFO Dive: What areas should be protected, offices, homes, conferences that are attended?
Jordan Arnold: All of the above. An assessment will look at the various points of exposure as they relate to the operation of the organization, the movement and...the people. Especially the key people. And the good news is that these types of assessments are beneficial not just to the C-suite and to the boards, but also to, in most respects, the rest of the workforce.
CFO Dive: What are some of the soft spots that leave executives vulnerable where gaps can be closed?
Jordan Arnold: A big one, especially with international travel, is leaving transportation to chance. That is something we spend a decent amount of time counseling clients about. They're relying on transportation means that are not appropriately vetted…Also getting a pre-travel intelligence report which can be put together quite readily is always a good practice.
CFO Dive: What about conferences?
Jordan Arnold: Conferences present a unique opportunity for an adversary because they are typically publicly known with respect to attendance and time and place…The trend is absolutely towards taking a more security-focused approach to planning those types of events, [having] more security at the point of entry in some cases and plain clothes security outside around the perimeter.
CFO Dive: What advice do you have for executives for staying safe while building their brand online, through social media platforms like LinkedIn?
Jordan Arnold: It's not to say, don't promote your business and don't be public facing. It's just making sure that you know [how to do it in] a way that balances the practical realities of their work and the opportunities that exist to protect them. [For example], there's all these bread crumbs out there…and in some cases you can do things to reduce that exposure...[We] systematically help them remove their information from online databases, white pages...Nobody's brand is being enhanced or improved because their executive's home address is easy to find through a quick digital search.
