Gregory E. Abel

The Horatio Alger Association announced on December 5, 2017 that Gregory E. Abel would receive its 2018 award. That release states he was born in 1962 in Edmonton, Alberta, and earned a commerce degree from the University of Alberta in 1984 with distinction.

The Association’s member biography says his mother worked as a legal assistant and then stayed home, his father was in sales, and the family lived in a working-class, family-oriented neighborhood. It quotes Abel: “We played hockey nearly every day in summer and winter and stayed out until we were called in for dinner.”

The same member page lists early work: advertising flyers, redeeming discarded bottles, labor for a forest-products company, filling fire extinguishers for Levitt Safety in high school and college (with a small scholarship from that firm), and summers as a program planner and sports-camp counselor for the City of Edmonton’s Parks and Recreation Department.

After the degree, the 2017 Association notice says, Abel joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in Edmonton and moved to its San Francisco office, where one client was CalEnergy, which then hired him. In his first letter as Berkshire CEO (released Feb 28, 2026) Abel writes that in 1992 he moved to Omaha to join CalEnergy, then unaffiliated with Berkshire, partly owned by Peter Kiewit Sons’ and chaired by Walter Scott, Jr.

The member page says he was a senior executive from 1992 to 2008, became president when the company became MidAmerican Energy Holdings in 1999, CEO in 2008 and chairman in 2011; MidAmerican became Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2014. Berkshire acquired MidAmerican in 2000 (2017 notice). The 2026 proxy gives BHE CEO 2008–2018 and BHE chairman until July 2025.

Outside boards, as later filed: The Kraft Heinz Company until May 2024; AEGIS Insurance Services Inc. 2016–2023 (May 2025 8-K). The Association lists David Sokol and Walter Scott as mentors and quotes Abel that they “gave me such exciting opportunities” (member page).

Berkshire’s January 10, 2018 release says the board grew from twelve to fourteen directors on January 9 and elected Abel and Ajit Jain; Buffett named Abel Vice Chairman – Non-Insurance Business Operations.

The Form 8-K records that on May 3, 2025 Buffett said he would recommend Abel as CEO effective January 1, 2026, and that on May 4 the board voted unanimously to appoint him President and CEO, with Buffett remaining chairman. On September 30, 2025 the board amended the bylaws to separate chairman and CEO (8-K).

The 2026 DEF 14A says Abel became CEO on January 1, 2026 and chief risk officer, a role Buffett held through December 31, 2025; Buffett remains chairman with about 30.0 percent of the voting interest.

The 2026 proxy says Buffett was both chairman and CEO from 1970 through December 31, 2025. The September 30, 2025 bylaw amendment separated the two jobs. That is a structural difference; it is not a finding about who holds real power.

The proxy compensation table shows Buffett’s salary at $100,000 for 2023–2025 and Abel’s at $20 million, $21 million and $22 million those years as vice chairman.

Taylor Morrison’s May 31, 2026 announcement and July 24 completion exhibit state a cash deal at $72.50 a share, about $6.8 billion equity value, closed July 24, 2026, with Abel quoted as CEO.

Berkshire’s August 8, 2026 earnings release says it “acquired approximately $4.5 billion in treasury shares during the second quarter of 2026, bringing the six-month total to about $4.8 billion.”

Abel’s 2025 letter: “If a significant issue arises, you will hear from me, but it will not be through quarterly commentary, given our long-term horizon.” That matches Buffett’s practice of annual letters.

The 2026 proxy describes Munger as “former Vice Chairman who died on November 28, 2023,” a named executive officer from 2021 through 2023 at $100,000 a year. Abel did not replace Munger in that chair; he had been vice chairman for non-insurance operations since 2018.

Abel’s 2025 letter quotes Munger’s 2021 line and says it “will forever resonate with me,” and that shareholders “will see similarities and differences between Warren, Charlie, and me.”

The 2026 proxy says Abel, Jain and certain subsidiary CEOs take the 2026 meeting Q&A, a format change after Munger’s death.

Abel’s 2025 letter says he told employees “Berkshire’s culture and values remain unchanged,” and restates decentralized autonomy, a “fortress-like balance sheet,” buybacks only below a conservative intrinsic value, and no cash dividend while retained dollars create more than a dollar of value. Insurance remains “our core.”

The 2026 proxy keeps Buffett as chairman, in the office five days a week, and the annual-meeting format with unscripted questions.

The Association’s December 5, 2017 release named Abel, then BHE chairman and CEO, as a 2018 honoree. The 2026 proxy says he is “a current director and Chairman Emeritus of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc.”

The Association’s Form 990 for tax year 2023 (EIN 13-1669975) lists Gregory E. Abel as President, uncompensated; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer shows the same officer line.