Feature
SOME OF THE NORTH’S MIGHTIEST HAVE HIT ROCK BOTTOM. BY R U DY M A X A
WILLIAM MCGUIRE
Artful Living
•
Magazine of the North
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AP PHOTO/ERIC MILLER
140
William McGuire’s career was fast-tracked when the health company where he served as chief operating officer and president was acquired by Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group in 1988. A year later, he was named president, and within a couple of years, he was anointed CEO and chairman of the board. With McGuire at the helm, the company grew rapidly, and in 2006, UnitedHealth enjoyed $70 billion in annual revenue. That success made McGuire’s fall from grace that year all the greater when the Securities and Exchange Commission made him the poster boy for a crackdown on corporate chieftains who for years had received backdated stock options from their companies. The maneuver involved carefully timing the awarding of stock options to executives when the share price was near a low so that the value would be greater when they sold the stock later at, presumably, a higher price. The Wall Street Journal wrote extensively about McGuire, perhaps as much for his backstory as the size of his backdated options. A pulmonologist by training, he was also a philanthropist, a student of butterflies, and an avid collector of wine, art and furniture. The SEC discovered that numerous other CEOs, including Apple’s Steve Jobs, had received backdated options, and at least five execs were given jail time. In 2007, McGuire agreed to a settlement that required he pay out $468 million in fines and restitution. And he was barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years. But his philanthropy continued — in 2009, he and his wife donated a butterfly collection valued at $41 million to the University of Florida — and he maintained his civic presence. In 2012, he bought the Minnesota Stars soccer team and steered through a political thicket to land the right to build a dramatic, privately financed stadium for the team (now called the Minnesota United FC) on the site of a former bus barn at the intersection of I-94 and Snelling Avenue in St. Paul.