Howard Graham Buffett has become chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, taking responsibility for protecting the culture and values of the trillion-dollar conglomerate while Greg Abel continues to run its operations.
The appointment gives the role to a farmer, former sheriff, photographer and philanthropist whose career has largely been spent outside the world of finance.
Howard Buffett’s role at Berkshire Hathaway
Howard Buffett has served as a Berkshire director since 1993. In a letter announcing Warren Buffett’s retirement, his father noted that this amounted to a longer “apprenticeship” than the one Warren Buffett completed before becoming the company’s chief executive at 34.
Greg Abel became chief executive in January and will remain responsible for the day-to-day running of Berkshire. Warren Buffett described the division of responsibilities by saying: “Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values—both worth more than anything on our balance sheet.”
He added: “Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against.”
Howard Buffett is not expected to direct Berkshire’s capital allocation or acquisitions. His purpose is instead to act as a safeguard against future leaders seeking to change the company’s buy-and-hold investment approach or the independence given to its businesses.
Susan Decker, the former Yahoo president, will remain lead independent director. She will serve alongside Howard Buffett and Warren Buffett, who is staying on the board.
A career far removed from finance
Howard Buffett runs a 1,500-acre family farm in Pana, Illinois, and supports foundation research farms covering more than 1,500 acres in Arizona and over 9,200 acres in South Africa. He has also campaigned for no-till conservation agriculture.
His public service has included two elected positions. He was a Douglas County commissioner in Nebraska from 1989 to 1992, then served as sheriff of Macon County, Illinois, from September 2017 to November 2018 after five years as an auxiliary deputy. He remains the county’s undersheriff.
He has also photographed conflict zones, including the war in Ukraine, and wildlife habitats in about 130 countries. Several books have resulted from work connected with food security, conservation and humanitarian relief in unstable regions.
Philanthropy in conflict-affected regions
Through his foundation, Howard Buffett has committed more than $1 billion to areas affected by conflict, including Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has received the highest honour for foreign citizens from Mexico, Colombia and Rwanda for the foundation’s work in those countries.
He is one of three siblings, alongside Susie and Peter, who will oversee the distribution of most of Warren Buffett’s remaining fortune, valued at $145 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Their father has chosen to place responsibility for the money with his children’s own foundations rather than pursue a single philanthropic strategy, with the three foundations distributing about $500 million a year between them.
Howard Buffett has warned that financial support alone cannot solve poverty where the rule of law has collapsed. In a conversation with his siblings in January, he said: “There’s a lot of things you can fund that will go nowhere. If you’re not addressing the real issue of rule of law then you just can’t have success.”
