Early life
Gregory Edward Abel was born on June 1, 1962, in Edmonton, Alberta. [2] [3]
During his childhood, Abel did odd jobs like distributing flyers and returning bottles to make money. He also worked as a laborer for a forest products company. [4] He enjoyed hockey and football as a child. [5]
He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Alberta in 1984, and is an AICPA certified public accountant. [3] [6]
Career
Abel began his career as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in their San Francisco office. In 1992, he joined CalEnergy, a geothermal electricity producer. [3] In 1999, CalEnergy acquired MidAmerican Energy, adopting its name, and Berkshire Hathaway acquired a controlling interest later that year. Abel became CEO of MidAmerican in 2008, [7] and the company was renamed Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2014. [3]
In January 2018, Abel was named Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman for non-insurance operations and appointed to Berkshire's board of directors. [8]
Abel is also vice chairman of Edison Electric Institute, and a director of AEGIS Limited, Kraft Heinz, Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, the Hockey Canada Foundation, the Mid-Iowa Council Boy Scouts of America, and the American Football Coaches Foundation. He has been on the board of trustees at Duke University and Drake University. [9] [10]
In a May 2021 interview, Warren Buffett confirmed Abel as his future successor as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. [11] [12] Abel's handling of CalEnergy’s take-over of a British utility in the 1990s is credited to mark the start of this transition. [13]
In June 2022, he sold his 1% stake in Berkshire Hathaway Energy for $870 million. [14]
In October 2022, it was announced that Abel purchased 168 shares of Berkshire Class A shares worth approximately $68 million. This equates to an approximate average share purchase price of $404,761.90. Prior to this latest purchase, Abel held five Class A shares and 2,363 Class B shares, according to previous filings. [15]
In May 2025 Warren Buffett was quoted as stating "The time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end", [16] thus paving the way for Abel to succeed Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. [17] As reported by the Associated Press, only Buffett's children knew Abel would be announced as the next CEO at the time, and Abel had no prior warning. [18]
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