Dive Brief:

• Berkshire Hathaway announced longtime CFO Marc Hamburg will retire after a 40-year career at the business as part of a number of high-profile leadership changes, according to a Monday press release. The shifts span across Berkshire’s corporate team, non-insurance and insurance operations, and come as the business prepares for longtime CEO and Chairman Warren Buffett to leave his role as CEO at the end of the year.
• Hamburg will retire in 2027 after serving more than three decades as finance chief, while Charles Chang, currently finance chief of subsidiary Berkshire Energy, will step into the role of corporate CFO effective June 1, 2026, the company, said in the release. Berkshire owns and operates a fleet of brands in multiple industries, including Geico Auto Insurance, battery company Duracell and Dairy Queen.
• Hamburg, also a senior vice president, first joined the Omaha, Nebraska-based company in 1987 and took the CFO seat in 1992. He has been “indispensable to Berkshire and to me,” Buffet said in a statement. “His integrity and judgment are priceless. He has done more for this company than many of our shareholders will ever know. His impact has been extraordinary.”

Dive Insight:

Buffett took the roles of CEO and chairman for Berkshire in 1970, transforming the then-textile company into his main investment vehicle. He announced he would be stepping down from the CEO seat at year’s end in May during Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting, marking what one shareholder referred to as the “end of an era,” The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. Greg Abel — the chairperson of Berkshire Energy  — was tapped as incoming CEO in a move coming several years after Buffett first named him as his successor in 2021, according to the WSJ. 

“Greg Abel has more than met the high expectations I had for him when I first thought he should be Berkshire’s next CEO,” Buffett, who will remain in his role as chairman, wrote in his annual Thanksgiving message to shareholders — a tradition he plans to continue, he said in the Nov. 10 letter. “He understands many of our businesses and personnel far better than I now do, and he is a very fast learner about matters many CEOs don’t even consider.”

Abel will step in as CEO alongside several new members of Berkshire’s corporate leadership team. Hamburg, another longtime company alum, will work closely with Chang to help ensure a seamless transition before retiring on Jan. 1, 2027, according to the Monday announcement. Chang took the role of CFO for Berkshire Hathaway Energy in October 2024 after a 35-year career at Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he served as a partner in its energy practice, according to a Berkshire biography page.

Berkshire also announced that Michael O’Sullivan will take on the role of SVP and general counsel for the business, representing the creation of a new position for Berkshire, which has used external legal counsel for corporate matters in the previous decades, it said. O’Sullivan will be joining from Snap Inc. effective Jan. 1.

The business also named several other leadership shifts across its subsidiaries: noting GEICO Chief Operating Officer Nancy Pierce has been appointed as its CEO, effective immediately — with current top executive Todd Combs stepping down in order to take a role at JPMorgan Chase, according to the press release.

Combs will head up a newly-formed security and resiliency initiative at the bank, where he has served as a member of its board of directors for nine years, beginning in January, CFO Dive sister publication Banking Dive reported.

“These leadership appointments reflect Berkshire Hathaway’s practice of selecting leaders who are stewards of the company’s culture, demonstrate strong business acumen and judgment and enable Berkshire’s distinctive way of operating,” the company said of its corporate appointments Monday. “Berkshire remains well positioned for the future.”