7 min read
54% of S&P 500 companies now provide personal security for their CEO, up from 35% the year before, and about 47% cover at least one other named executive, according to a Pay Governance review published by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. Boards are treating the people who run the company as assets worth protecting. Owner-CEOs, founders and public personalities carry the same exposure, but they're usually booking themselves, or relying on an EA who books without safety or security context, with no security resource to confer with.
By Isaac Ferland, CEO of The Executive Protection Source
What did the new data on executive security show?
On September 15, 2026, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance published a review by Pay Governance of proxy disclosures from S&P 500 companies. The numbers moved fast in one year:
- CEO personal security went from 35% of companies to 54%.
- About 47% of companies now provide personal security to at least one other named executive officer. In fiscal 2023 and 2024 that number was under 20%.
- For those other executives, the median security value rose from about $10K to $32K, and the 75th percentile went from about $32K to $143K.
- The number of non-CEO executives receiving more than $100,000 in personal security went from 18 to 57.
The authors note that after the killing of a health insurance executive in December 2024, many large companies brought in outside experts to review their security. Every industry sector in the review saw an increase in either how many companies offer security or how much they spend on it.
The programs themselves are changing too. Recent proxies mention digital executive protection, cybersecurity monitoring, personal data removal, home network monitoring and independent risk assessments, in some cases extended to executives' families. Guards and alarm systems are now one part of a wider plan.
Why are boards treating the CEO like an asset to insure?
A company insures its buildings, its equipment and its data. It carries liability coverage and backs up its servers. The CEO is the person whose judgment, relationships and public face hold all of that together, and boards are starting to protect that person with the same discipline.
You can see it in the language. According to the review, companies increasingly describe security costs "as necessary business protections tied to executive visibility, threat environments, and company risk management, rather than simply as personal benefits." The authors also advise committees to ground programs in a formal, periodic security assessment instead of ad hoc decisions.
I read that as a good sign. Executive protection is being understood for what it is: a business continuity decision. When the person at the top is hurt, harassed or pulled off the job, the company feels it the next morning.
Is executive protection only for S&P 500 CEOs?
No. The S&P 500 data is just the part of the picture that has to be disclosed in a proxy. We work with all types of clients, and many of them will never file one.
The ones with the most exposure are often the people who are the brand. I see two patterns over and over.
The first is the founder or personality who has built a large following. People join their team because they want to work with that person. The marketing, the sales and the growth plan all depend on that one person being the face, showing up on camera, at events and online. Their schedule is public by design, and a lot of strangers feel like they know them.
The second is the leader in a controversial industry. Everything they say or do gets put under a microscope. A single comment can draw attention from people who will never buy from them and want them to know it.
Neither group usually has a corporate security department. There's no board committee reviewing their risk. They're booking their own travel and events, or an EA is booking them without any context on safety or security, and there's no one with that background to confer with. Their exposure is real, and the support around them is thin.
That's the gap we work in at The Executive Protection Source.
Why is it getting harder to find a good protection team?
When demand grows this fast, the industry feels it. Good agents get booked solid and worked harder. New firms show up to meet demand, and quality varies a lot between them. A buyer with no security background has a hard time telling a disciplined team from one that looks the part.
Before you hire anyone, ask:
- Who will actually be on your detail, and what is their training and background?
- What licensing and insurance does the firm carry in the states where you'll need them?
- How do they do advance work before you arrive somewhere?
- How do they protect your schedule, your address and your family's information?
- Can they give you references from clients with a profile like yours?
We built a Vetting Vendors Guide, a scorecard PDF you can use to grade any provider against these questions and more. You can find it and other free resources in The Gatehouse community.
Some clients don't want to run that process themselves. In that case a firm like ours can act as your fractional head of security. We assess what you need, find the right team for your use case and hold them to a standard, so you get the protection you're paying for.
For a sense of budget, see how much executive protection costs in 2026.
What does a full protection plan include besides in-person operators?
The protection team is one piece. A good plan builds concentric rings around the person at risk, and each ring catches what the one outside it missed:
- Risk assessment. Everything starts here. It tells you who might target you, how, and what's worth spending on.
- Access control at home, at the office and at events.
- Operational security (OPSEC): what your team, family and vendors share about where you'll be and when.
- Vetting of staff, contractors and anyone who gets close to you or your family.
- Advances, so the route, the venue and the exits are checked before you arrive.
- Cyber and digital exposure: personal data on broker sites, home network security, accounts that reveal your location.
- Medical and emergency response that covers the principal, their team and their family: medical training on the detail, the nearest trauma center mapped on every advance, and a plan for who calls whom when something goes wrong.
- The in-person protection operators themselves, trained to work inside all of the above.
The S&P 500 data shows the same direction. Companies are adding digital protection and independent assessments alongside physical security. In-person operators and bodyguards are different roles, and our article Executive Protection vs a Bodyguard explains how. For a quick read on your own online exposure, try the Exposure Score.
Where should you start if you have no one to confer with on security?
Start with your own threat profile, visibility, budget and needs. A founder with a quiet public presence needs something different from a personality with a large following and a tour schedule.
That's why we built The Gatehouse, our free community. It's a place to get your questions answered and build a baseline of knowledge before you need it. Then, as concerns come up, you already have a trusted source of information to keep you, your team and your family prepared, not paranoid.
Follow The Executive Protection Source for more insights. Join The Gatehouse for resources. And if you have a question about your own situation, reach out here.
FAQ
What percentage of S&P 500 companies pay for CEO security?
54% in fiscal 2025, up from 35% the year before, according to Pay Governance data published by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance in September 2026.
Are companies protecting executives other than the CEO?
Yes. About 47% of S&P 500 companies now provide personal security to at least one other named executive officer, compared with under 20% in fiscal 2023 and 2024.
Do small business owners need executive protection?
Most small business owners don't need full-time protection until their visibility grows or they see patterns that warrant it, such as repeated unwanted contact or someone showing up where they shouldn't. A few proactive measures can keep you from being targeted: remove your home address and personal details from data broker sites, post locations after you've left instead of while you're there, turn on two-factor authentication for email, banking and social accounts, and agree with your team and family on what never gets shared publicly.
What does executive protection include besides in-person protection operators?
A full plan covers risk assessment, access control, operational security (OPSEC), vetting, advance work, cyber and digital exposure, medical and emergency response, and the in-person protection operators. Large companies are adding digital protection, personal data removal and home network monitoring to their programs.
How do I choose an executive protection company?
Ask who will be on your detail, what licensing and insurance the firm holds, how they handle advances and your private information, and for references from clients like you. Our Vetting Vendors Guide scorecard walks you through it. You can find it and other free resources in The Gatehouse community.
What is The Gatehouse?
The Gatehouse is The Executive Protection Source's free community, where owners, executives and their teams get questions answered and build a baseline of security knowledge.
About the author
Isaac Ferland is an executive protection practitioner with more than a decade in the protection industry and the CEO of The Executive Protection Source. He helps founders, owner-CEOs, public personalities and their families build protection that fits their real risk, so they stay prepared, not paranoid.
