Health

Protesters urge Mass General Brigham to remove Lockheed Martin CEO from board of directors

Over 20 people attended a Tuesday gathering to call for MGB to disassociate with Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet.

Protesters hold a banner during a rally outside Brigham and Women's Hospital on Tuesday to call for MGB to remove Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet as a board member. Emilia Wisniewski

By Emilia Wisniewski

April 16, 2025

3 minutes to read

Health care workers, patients, and advocates stood outside Brigham and Women’s Hospital Tuesday to call on Mass General Brigham to remove Lockheed Martin’s CEO from its board of directors.

Over 20 people attended the gathering, holding signs and banners while urging MGB to disassociate with the weapons manufacturer CEO, James Taiclet, especially amid the ongoing war in Gaza and the company’s supply of arms to Israel.

“I am absolutely infuriated by our leading health care institution’s silence and complicity in the ongoing genocide,” said Dr. Jordy Laks, a Boston health care provider. “I think what brings me out today is that we have energy and that I’m together with other people who care about this.”

A protest near Northampton’s Dickinson Hospital occurred at the same time, reported by MassLive, with both rallies intentionally being held on Tax Day to highlight MGB’s tax breaks as a nonprofit.

A related petition circulating since January has received over 1,200 signatures, 300 of which are from health care providers. In addition to removing Taiclet, the group is demanding MGB commit to an ethical investment policy and protect its employees to express their grievances of injustice.

In a statement, MGB said its “focus is on providing high-quality care to all patients who come through our doors. We are committed to caring for our people and maintaining an inclusive culture, where everyone is welcome, safe and valued.”

Taiclet joined MGB’s board of directors in 2022 and has been a trustee since 2007, according to The Boston Globe. Though many people did not know he was involved with MGB until early this year, according to Boston physician and MGB patient Jennifer Brody, who was among them.

“I think with increased awareness of the role of weapons manufacturers … and understanding that there are individuals who are profiteering off of violence against health care workers and patients and children, has just elevated this to a level of such profound urgency,” Brody said.

On Sunday, Israeli airstrikes destroyed part of the last functioning hospital in Gaza City. Lockheed Martin reportedly supplies F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to Israel as well as Hellfire Missiles that have been used in airstrikes.

Lockheed Martin deferred comment to MGB.

Brody spoke to the crowd in her white coat and introduced other speakers, including Julie Jolin, an obstetrician and gynecologist formerly employed at Mass General Hospital. Jolin was diagnosed with a cerebellar brain tumor in 2010, which was once thought to be inoperable but health care workers at MGH performed on and terminated the tumor.

“You can imagine, like the others here, I was devastated to learn that MGB, which saved my life and gave me a career in bringing lives into this world, is associated with Lockheed Martin,” Jolin said. “Their product is death and destruction, not the life-affirming care that I gave or I got here at MGH.”

Paul Shannon is a member of Cambridge-based Massachusetts Peace Action, which organized the Tuesday rallies. Shannon said, in addition to the group’s activism around the war in Ukraine, race issues, and climate change, the Gaza conflict is currently the “most important” to them.

“It’s not a major thing for many people, but for a lot of more people than ever before, this is important and we have to build on that,” Shannon said.

MGB announced Feb. 10 it would lay off many management and administrative positions within its network due to a budget shortfall, potentially leading to the largest layoffs in the company’s history.

The health care system has more than 82,000 employees, with MGH and Brigham and Women’s among the top seven largest employers in the state, according to the Department of Economic Research.

Brody said she “calls into question” Taiclet’s judgment as a board member, who is able to inform hiring decisions, given his bigger role at Lockheed Martin.

“I just don’t have a lot of trust in someone like that informing hospitals and those kinds of decisions when they should be investing in frontline staff,” Brody said. “They should be supporting their workers who are fighting for good.”