Who is Howard Buffett? Meet Warren Buffett’s farmer-philanthropist son and Berkshire Hathaway’s new chairmanNEWS | 19 September 2026Warren Buffett is handing the chairmanship of Berkshire Hathaway to his son Howard Graham Buffett, who has served on the company's board since 1993.
Berkshire announced Friday that the younger Buffett would become chairman, while his father would assume the title of chairman emeritus and remain a director.
Howard Buffett, 71, won't be running Berkshire's sprawling collection of businesses. Greg Abel, who succeeded Warren Buffett as CEO at the beginning of 2026, remains in charge of the company and its major decisions.
Instead, Howard Buffett will serve as a guardian of the corporate culture his father spent more than 60 years building.
"Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values," Warren Buffett wrote in a letter to shareholders accompanying the announcement.
The succession plan was long in the making, said Lawrence Cunningham, the director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center and author of several books on Berkshire.
"Berkshire announced long ago that Warren would recommend to the board that Howard succeed him," Cunningham said.
"The timing could be due to many things, including Warren's outlook, Howard's capacity and resolving other claims on his attention, or the board's outlook," he added.
Farmer, conservationist, sheriff
Howard, sometimes called "Howie," is Warren Buffett's middle child. He joined Berkshire's board in 1993, giving him 33 years of experience as a director before taking the chair.
Explore BI Games Take a smarter break in your day - and see how far you get. Play now Want more Business Insider in your news feed? Add BI in Google so our reporting is easier to find when you’re searching for what matters. Add to Preferred Sources
His career has taken a less conventional path than those of many corporate directors. A longtime farmer, conservationist, and photographer, Howard has also held senior roles at the agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland and the agricultural equipment company GSI Group, according to his official foundation biography. He previously sat on the boards of companies including Coca-Cola, ConAgra Foods, and ADM.
Farming is more than a side interest for Howard. He manages a 1,500-acre family farm in central Illinois, operates a 400-acre farm in Nebraska, and oversees three foundation research farms in Arizona, Illinois, and Nebraska totaling about 9,500 acres, according to a 2024 profile by No-Till Farmer.
He is a longtime advocate of no-till farming and other conservation-based agricultural practices.
Since 1999, he has served as chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The foundation focuses much of its giving on food security, conflict mitigation, and efforts to combat human trafficking.
According to his foundation, Howard has traveled to more than 150 countries and served as a United Nations World Food Program goodwill ambassador against hunger.
Howard is a Republican and has held elected and law enforcement positions. He served on Nebraska's Douglas County Board of Commissioners and was sheriff of Macon County, Illinois, from 2017 to 2018.
His foundation is a major supporter of Ukraine, committing more than $1 billion in assistance following Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in 2022 and ensuing, ongoing war.
A succession plan more than a decade in the making
The appointment to the chairman role has been in the works for well over a decade.
Warren Buffett said in a 2011 60 Minutes interview that he wanted Howard to eventually become Berkshire's nonexecutive chairman and protect its values without directing strategy or picking investments.
The younger Buffett told CBS in the same interview that he was willing to take the job as long as he could "keep farming."
In his parting letter as chairman, the elder Buffett told shareholders they should think of his son as an insurance policy they own but hope never to use.Author: Theron Mohamed. Georgia Hennessy. Source
