Who is Howard Buffett? The farmer, sheriff and middle-son taking the Berkshire Hathaway chair

Howard Graham Buffett has spent much of his life doing things that have little resemblance to the world his father built.

He has farmed the land, worked with agricultural machinery, served in local government, sat on corporate boards, worked as a sheriff, photographed wildlife and war zones, and run a foundation focused on food security and humanitarian crises.

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Now, at 71, he has taken on one of the most unusual assignments of his life, which is succeeding Warren Buffett as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

Warren Buffett stepped down as Berkshire's chairman on Friday and became chairman emeritus, while remaining on the board. Howard, a Berkshire director since 1993, was elected chairman.

The division of responsibilities is deliberate. Warren Buffett's farewell letter to shareholders said Howard would guard Berkshire's culture and values while Abel runs the company. That makes Howard less an heir to Berkshire's investment empire than a custodian of the principles his father spent six decades building into the company.

The son who chose the farm

Born on December 16, 1954, Howard is the middle child of Warren Buffett and his first wife, Susan Thompson Buffett. He grew up in Omaha with his older sister Susan and younger brother Peter. Unlike his father, Howard did not build his career around investing.

He began farming in Nebraska in 1977 and later moved to Illinois, where he continues to farm and oversees research farms associated with his foundation. His agricultural work has focused heavily on conservation, including no-till farming and efforts to improve food production while protecting soil and other natural resources. The foundation says he has travelled to 156 countries and has combined his interests in agriculture, conservation, photography and humanitarian work.

The contrast with his father is striking. Warren Buffett turned Berkshire into a global conglomerate through insurance, investments and the acquisition of operating businesses. Howard's career has repeatedly taken him closer to farms, fields and communities facing poverty or conflict.

Yet agriculture became one of the threads connecting his different careers.

A corporate career before philanthropy

Howard did not completely avoid corporate America.

He joined the board of agricultural equipment company GSI Group and served as a director of Archer Daniels Midland before becoming its corporate vice president and assistant to the chairman from 1992 to 1995. He also served on the boards of companies including Coca-Cola Enterprises, Coca-Cola, ConAgra Foods and Lindsay Corporation.

He joined Berkshire's board in 1993, giving him more than three decades of exposure to the company's management, businesses and governance.

That long apprenticeship is central to his new role.

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Howard is not expected to become Berkshire's operating chief. His job is instead to work with the board and protect the culture that Warren Buffett considers central to the company.

Berkshire's unusual model — buying businesses and largely leaving their managers to run them, maintaining a large financial cushion and giving considerable autonomy to operating companies — is part of the legacy Howard is now expected to help preserve.

From politics to a sheriff's badge

Howard's career has also wandered into politics and law enforcement.

He served on the Douglas County Board of Commissioners in Nebraska from 1989 to 1992 and chaired the Nebraska Ethanol Authority and Development Board. Later, after years as a volunteer with the Macon County Sheriff's Office in Illinois, he became sheriff in 2017, completing the term of his predecessor.

His interest in law enforcement also found its way into his philanthropy. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation has funded public-safety projects and training facilities, alongside its work in agriculture, conservation and humanitarian assistance.

The foundation, established in 1999, now concentrates its work primarily on food security, conflict mitigation and countering human trafficking, while retaining smaller conservation programmes.

The photographer in the family

Photography became another defining part of Howard's life. His books have focused on wildlife, biodiversity, poverty and the human condition. He has photographed communities and conflicts across the world, using those experiences alongside his foundation's work.

That has become particularly visible in Ukraine.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Howard has repeatedly travelled to the country, documenting the war while directing philanthropic support towards humanitarian relief, agriculture, demining and other projects. His foundation says its Ukraine work has included support for farmers, humanitarian programmes and infrastructure, while his photography from the conflict has been published in *Courage of a Nation: Three Years of War*.

The scale of the foundation's Ukraine work has grown sharply. The OECD reported that it provided $353 million in development finance to Ukraine in 2023 alone.

His foundation says Howard has travelled to more than 150 countries and has used photography as a way to document conflict, poverty, wildlife and communities.

A different kind of Berkshire heir

Howard's elevation also completes a succession plan that Warren Buffett has discussed for years.

The younger Buffett was identified long ago as the person who could become Berkshire's non-executive chairman after his father. His role was never meant to replicate Warren Buffett's.

Howard does not inherit the CEO's job, nor does he inherit the investment decisions that made his father famous. Abel now runs Berkshire's operations, while Howard's responsibility is primarily governance, culture and the board's oversight of management.

He is also part of another extraordinary succession story.

Howard, Susan and Peter Buffett are expected to direct the vast majority of the Berkshire shares their father ultimately leaves behind towards philanthropy rather than personal inheritance. Their foundations have already received substantial Berkshire stock from Warren Buffett.

So Howard's new position places him at the intersection of two legacies: his father's corporate empire and the family's enormous philanthropic ambitions.

The man now entrusted with helping preserve Berkshire's culture is, in many ways, an unlikely corporate heir.

He has spent decades away from the traditional Wall Street path — behind a camera, behind the wheel of a combine, on a farm, in a sheriff's office and in some of the world's most difficult humanitarian environments.

Now he returns to the boardroom, carrying a very different kind of Buffett legacy.