William McGuire, M.D. (born 1948) is an American healthcare executive best known for his tenure as chairman and chief executive officer of

UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest c ...

from 1991 until his resignation in 2006, while under investigation for securities fraud, for which he would later settle out of court. He also owns

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Socc ...

, Minnesota's professional soccer team.

Personal life

McGuire was born in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and grew up in

League City League City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Galveston County, within the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 112,129. The city of League City has a small portion north of Clear Creek within Harris ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He attended college at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and medical school at the

University of Texas Medical Branch The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a public academic health science center in Galveston, Texas. It is part of the University of Texas System. UTMB includes the oldest medical school in Texas, and has about 11,000 employees. In Febr ...

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

, Texas. After medical school, he worked in California and Colorado before moving to Minnesota.

UnitedHealth

McGuire joined UnitedHealthcare in November 1988 as an executive vice president when the Peak Health Plan, of which he was then president and chief operating officer, was acquired by UnitedHealth Group. In May 1989, he was appointed to the board of directors and became chief operating officer. In November 1989, he became president of the company, a position he held until May 1991. He was named chief executive officer in February 1991, and chairman of the board of directors in May of the same year. When McGuire joined UnitedHealth Group, it was an unprofitable regional

health maintenance organization In the United States, a health maintenance organization (HMO) is a medical insurance group that provides health services for a fixed annual fee. It is an organization that provides or arranges managed care for health insurance, self-funded healt ...

with annual revenues around $400 million. When he left, UnitedHealth Group the company had more than $70 billion in annual revenues, more than 50,000 employees, and more than sixty million health plan members. In 2006, the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

began investigating the conduct of UnitedHealth's management and directors, including McGuire, as did the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

and prosecutors in the

United States Attorneys United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

' office for the Southern District of New York. The investigations came to light after a series of probing stories in the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' in May 2006, discussing the apparent "backdating" of stock options, in a then-common process called

options backdating In finance, options backdating is the practice of altering the date a stock option was granted, to a usually earlier (but sometimes later) date at which the underlying stock price was lower. This is a way of repricing options to make them more v ...

. Backdating involves manipulating the timing of options grants so they look as though they were made on days when the stock's value was lower. Doing that boosts recipients' windfall when they sell the stock. The backdating was approved by the board of directors, according to the ''Journal''. Several shareholder classes filed lawsuits accusing former UnitedHealth's directors of failing in their fiduciary duty to properly notify shareholders of the scheme. On October 15, 2006, it was announced that McGuire would step down immediately as chairman and director of UnitedHealth. McGuire remained as chief executive officer through December 1, and was succeeded by Stephen Hemsley (then president and chief operating officer, and a member of the board of directors). From 1989 until 2006, McGuire received compensation from UnitedHealth in the form of stock options that eventually became worth around $1.6 billion. However, in the course of the litigations that followed his departure from the company, McGuire was temporarily enjoined from exercising the options. The injunction was later released in late 2008. On December 6, 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a settlement, under which McGuire was to repay $468 million as a partial settlement of the backdating prosecution. McGuire was fined $7 million and agreed to not serve as an officer or director of a public company for ten years.

Minnesota United FC

In November 2012, Dr. McGuire purchased

Minnesota Stars FC Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to i ...

, a league-owned professional soccer team in Minnesota. The team was rebranded as

in March 2013.

Philanthropy

In October 2009, Dr. McGuire and his wife Nadine donated a rare butterfly collection valued at $41 MM to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. In 2007, Dr. and Mrs. McGuire established the McGuire Scholar Program at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, which provides scholarships to talented students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2004, Dr. and Mrs. McGuire made a $10 MM gift to the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. In 2004, Dr. and Mrs. McGuire made a $7.5 MM gift to

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

. The college renamed its life sciences building in their honor. In 2003, Dr. and Mrs. McGuire made a $10 MM gift to the

Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions between Sir Tyrone Gut ...

in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In December 2000, Dr. and Mrs. McGuire made a $4.2 MM gift to the University of Florida to construct and establish the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera Research and the McGuire Center for Insect Conservation.

References

External links

Forbes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGuire, William W. Living people 1948 births People from League City, Texas American chief operating officers American health care chief executives Minnesota United FC North American Soccer League executives Members of the National Academy of Medicine