Todd Combs, one of Warren Buffett’s two longtime equity deputies and the CEO of GEICO, is leaving Berkshire Hathaway to take a senior operational and investing role at JPMorgan Chase.
Berkshire confirmed on Monday that Combs, 54, has resigned to become head of JPMorgan’s newly unveiled Security and Resiliency Initiative. The bank said the program will begin with $10 billion of capital under Combs’s discretion and ultimately intends to mobilize up to $1.5 trillion of investment across defense, aerospace, healthcare and energy — areas the bank framed as critical to “making the world more secure.” Combs will also serve as a special adviser to JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and is giving up his seat on the bank’s board.
"Todd Combs is one of the greatest investors and leaders I’ve known," Dimon said in JPMorgan’s release, praising Combs’s time at Berkshire and on JPMorgan’s board. Warren Buffett, who will remain chairman of Berkshire, said: "Todd made many great hires at GEICO and broadened its horizons. JPMorgan, as usually is the case, has made a good decision."
A high-profile jump to JPMorgan
The new JPMorgan initiative is notable not just for its size but for the people it will consult: the bank said an outside council will guide strategy and cited prominent names who will help shape its priorities. The combination of deep-pocketed capital, an explicit national-security framing and outside heavyweights marks the effort as more than a conventional private-equity program.
Combs’s move also highlights how large banks and financial institutions are increasingly marrying deal teams with strategic industrial objectives — a shift that will rely heavily on data, deal-sourcing and research tooling. Investors and corporate leaders are using new search and analysis capabilities to surface opportunities more quickly; tools like Google Finance’s Gemini "Deep Search" features are an example of how data aggregation is changing how portfolios are built and monitored Google Finance's Gemini 'Deep Search' features. Similarly, broader AI research tools that plug into email and drive systems are reshaping analyst workflows and due diligence Gemini Deep Research plugging into Gmail and Drive.
What this means for Berkshire
Combs has been with Berkshire since 2010, joining from his hedge fund Castle Point and alongside Ted Weschler to help manage the conglomerate’s outsized public-equity portfolio. His departure comes amid a wider management reshuffle tied to Buffett’s planned handover of day-to-day responsibilities: Greg Abel is set to take over as CEO on Jan. 1, 2026, and has already absorbed much of the operational oversight of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses.
Berkshire announced several internal shifts alongside Combs’s resignation. Nancy L. Pierce, long-time GEICO executive and the company’s current chief operating officer, will become GEICO’s CEO. Adam M. Johnson, CEO of NetJets, will take on a broader role overseeing consumer products, services and retailing businesses while remaining at NetJets. On the corporate finance side, Berkshire said chief financial officer Marc D. Hamburg — a Buffett-era executive who has served the company for four decades — will retire on June 1, 2027, with Charles Chang from Berkshire Hathaway Energy set to replace him.
Those moves stitch together continuity and succession: internal leaders with long institutional knowledge are being elevated even as one of Buffett’s onetime investment lieutenants heads to a rival financial powerhouse.
For investors, the questions are practical. Combs helped manage Berkshire’s major public positions — Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola among them — and his absence raises short-term curiosity about how active management and future purchases will be allocated between remaining portfolio managers. Berkshire’s shares have lagged the broader market at points this year, and any perception of thinning investment bench-strength matters to a company whose value has been historically tied to Buffett’s investment judgment.
There’s also a broader industry signal: seasoned, long-horizon investors are being courted by large financial institutions to run mission-driven, balance-sheet-enabled strategies. JPMorgan’s initiative — big on ambition and heavy on resources — will be a test case for whether that combination can both move markets and satisfy institutional returns.
Combs’s move is personal and strategic. He steps into a role with vast capital and a public-facing mandate; Berkshire replaces him by promoting from within. For both firms, it’s a reminder that executive transitions ripple through portfolios, operations and the markets that watch them all closely.