Greg Abel
Greg Abel became CEO of Berkshire Hathaway on January 1, 2026, succeeding Warren Buffett who had led the company for over 60 years. Born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1962, Abel studied accounting at the University of Alberta before beginning a career in the energy sector. He joined MidAmerican Energy in 1992 and rose to become its CEO, overseeing its transformation into one of the largest utility holding companies in the United States. Berkshire Hathaway acquired a controlling stake in MidAmerican in 1999, bringing Abel into the Berkshire orbit.
Abel was named Vice Chairman of Berkshire's non-insurance operations in 2018, and Buffett publicly identified him as his chosen successor in 2021. He is known as an extraordinarily disciplined operator — a hands-on executive who personally negotiates deals, reviews contracts, and travels constantly to the businesses he oversees. His style is quieter and more internally focused than Buffett's, and he has signaled continuity with Berkshire's core philosophy: patient capital allocation, decentralized management, permanent ownership of great businesses, and extreme conservatism on financial risk.
Berkshire's culture is its competitive advantage. We will continue to look for great businesses run by great people, hold them for the long term, and never put the company in a position where it has to do something it doesn't want to do.
— Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway