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Berkshire Loses Geico CEO Combs to JPMorgan. It’s Preparing for Life After Buffett.

Dec 08, 2025 07:05:00 -0500 by Callum Keown | #Warren Buffett

Shareholders walk past a portrait of Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, at an annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb. (Johannes Eisele / AFP / Getty Images)

Key Points

Berkshire Hathaway announced a raft of leadership changes Monday as the company prepares for life without Warren Buffett at the helm.

The most prominent change might be the announced departure of investment manager and Geico CEO Todd Combs, who will join JPMorgan Chase . Combs will head up the strategic investment group of the bank’s new security and resiliency initiative, as well as acting as a special advisor to CEO Jamie Dimon.

Combs, who joined Berkshire in 2010 as an investment manager, has run about 10% of Berkshire’s $300 billion equity portfolio along with Berkshire manager Ted Weschler. Buffett has handled the rest.

Buffett added to Combs’ responsibilities in naming him Geico’s CEO at the end of 2019, and Buffett has credited Combs with leading a turnaround at the No. 3 U.S. auto insurer.

“Todd A. Combs, CEO of GEICO since 2020, has resigned to accept an interesting and important job at JPMorgan,” Buffett said in a press release Monday. “JPMorgan, as usually is the case, has made a good decision,” he added.

Combs has been a member of JPMorgan’s board of directors for nine years and will leave it immediately to take the new role on Jan. 1, 2026.

Nancy Pierce will take over as CEO of Geico—the insurance company owned by Berkshire—where she is currently the chief operating officer.

Berkshire Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg will retire in June 2027, with Charles Chang—the current CFO at Berkshire Hathaway Energy—taking on the role from June 1, 2026. The pair will work together to ensure a “smooth and seamless transition,” the company said.

Buffett will remain chairman but will be replaced as CEO by Greg Abel, Berkshire’s vice chairman and head of the company’s vast non-insurance operations, at the start of 2026.

Buffett has run both the operational side of the conglomerate and investments, a demanding dual role. There had been some expectation Abel would expand Berkshire’s lean management team, and Monday’s announcements outline them.

In a key appointment, Berkshire said that Adam Johnson, the CEO of NetJets, will become the president of Berkshire’s consumer products, service, and retailing business, effective immediately, while continuing in his role at NetJets. This is a newly created position.

Berkshire said the remaining non-insurance businesses—including industrial products, building products, BNSF, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Pilot, and McLane—will remain under Abel’s direct oversight as he assumes the role of president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway on Jan. 1, 2026.

Berkshire also named its first general counsel. Michael O’Sullivan will become a senior vice president and general counsel on Jan. 1, 2026, joining the company from Snap , where he has been general counsel since 2017.

Berkshire’s Class A shares were down 1.3% in Monday trading.

Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com