Greg Abel grew up in Edmonton, Canada, a place known for cold winters and oil fields, not Wall Street glitz. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon—his dad was a firefighter, and his mom stayed home with the kids. Funny thing: he started his career as an accountant, which sounds boring until you realize accountants see where all the money hides.
Abel moved to the U.S. in the 1990s to work for a small utility company called CalEnergy. He didn’t want fame; he just wanted to build things. That’s his secret sauce: a relentless focus on boring, essential businesses like power plants and pipelines.
The Berkshire Hathaway Test
Warren Buffett loves two things: cash flow and trustworthy people. Abel’s big break came when Berkshire bought CalEnergy in 2000. Suddenly, he was working for the boss himself. But here’s the cool part: Abel didn’t try to impress Buffett with flashy presentations. Instead, he kept his head down and made PacificCorp (a Berkshire utility) insanely profitable.
Imagine proving yourself by making a utility company exciting. That’s like being proud of painting a ceiling—but painting it so well that everyone notices. Buffett noticed. “Greg is exactly the kind of person I’d want running Berkshire,” the boss once said. Chill, confident, and unshakable.
Who is Greg Abel? Meet the man set to succeed Warren Buffett as CEO of
