In a major shake-up at Wall Street and within one of America’s biggest conglomerates, investment manager Todd Combs is leaving Berkshire Hathaway and its insurance subsidiary GEICO to join JPMorgan Chase & Co. The move comes as part of a sweeping leadership transition at Berkshire — and marks a new era for Combs under JPMorgan’s ambitious investment strategy.
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A Sudden Shift: Combs’ Move From Buffett to Dimon
On December 8, 2025, JPMorgan Chase announced that Todd A. Combs will leave his roles at Berkshire Hathaway and GEICO to head the bank’s newly formed Strategic Investment Group. The group is part of JPMorgan’s broader “Security and Resiliency Initiative,” a plan that allocates up to $10 billion for direct equity and venture capital investments targeting vital sectors such as defense, aerospace, healthcare, and energy. Combs will officially begin at JPMorgan in January 2026 and report directly to CEO Jamie Dimon. He will also serve as a special advisor to Dimon and sit on the initiative’s External Advisory Council.
This announcement ends Combs’s more than 15-year tenure at Berkshire, a decade and a half that saw him rise from portfolio manager to one of the company’s most trusted lieutenants. The decision comes as part of a broader leadership overhaul at Berkshire, given that longtime CEO Warren Buffett is scheduled to step down at year’s end in favor of longtime executive Greg Abel.
Combs’ Legacy at Berkshire and GEICO
Todd Combs, born in 1971, joined Berkshire in 2010 after a successful run running his own hedge fund. Before that, he had worked in insurance and finance roles — including a stint as a pricing analyst at Progressive Insurance and an insurance analyst at a securities firm.
Over the years, Combs earned a reputation as a disciplined, long-term investor — traits that drew the attention of Berkshire’s leadership. In 2020 he became CEO of GEICO, balancing insurance operations with investment portfolio management. Under his watch, GEICO remained a core component of Berkshire’s sprawling business empire.
At Berkshire, Combs — along with fellow investment manager Ted Weschler — had been widely considered a likely candidate to assume larger investment responsibilities once Buffett stepped aside. Many analysts saw Combs as a potential successor for managing a substantial portion of Berkshire’s equity portfolio.
What JPMorgan’s “Strategic Investment Group” Aims to Do
JPMorgan’s Security and Resiliency Initiative is a sweeping, decade-long plan aimed at boosting U.S. competitiveness across sectors deemed critical to national infrastructure and security. The bank commits to investing up to $1.5 trillion, with an initial $10 billion earmarked for direct equity and venture investments.
Under this new mandate, Combs will leverage his deep investing background to identify opportunities in defense, aerospace, healthcare, energy and other key industries. He will partner with JPMorgan’s Commercial & Investment Bank and Asset & Wealth Management divisions to channel funds into companies that align with the initiative’s goals of innovation, manufacturing growth, and strategic resilience.
With his track record of disciplined, value-focused investing at Berkshire, Combs brings a distinct skill set to a bank now aggressively expanding its footprint in direct investments — a move that signals how big banks are shifting strategies in a more complex global environment.
What This Means for Berkshire and GEICO
Combs’s departure sets off a chain of leadership changes inside Berkshire. At GEICO, his exit triggered the immediate promotion of long-serving Chief Operating Officer Nancy L. Pierce to CEO. Pierce has worked at GEICO since 1986 and held senior roles across underwriting, claims, product management, and regional operations. Her deep institutional knowledge suggests continuity rather than disruption for the insurer.
On a corporate level, Berkshire also announced that its long-time CFO Marc D. Hamburg will retire in June 2027, ending a 40-year career with the company. His successor will be Charles C. Chang, currently CFO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, who will assume the CFO role in mid-2026 after a transition period. The company also appointed former Snap Inc. general counsel as its first ever in-house General Counsel, cementing a broader shift toward internal management.
Taken together, these changes reflect a company intentionally reorganizing itself for the next era — one in which Buffett plays a reduced role, new leaders take over day-to-day operations, and Berkshire continues its diversified businesses under a different management structure.
Why the Timing Matters
Combs’s move follows quickly on the heels of Buffett’s well-publicized plan to step down as CEO by the end of 2025. Many investors and analysts saw the vacuum in investment leadership looming at the conglomerate. Combs’s departure solves that uncertainty — but not by staying within Berkshire. Instead, he’s bringing his talent and reputation to JPMorgan, a sign that talent flow in finance is shifting across old boundaries.
For JPMorgan, hiring Combs is a statement. It signals the bank wants to expand its direct investing business and target industries central to national competitiveness. The move also speaks to a broader trend in which financial giants — traditional banks, hedge funds, insurance firms — are reimagining their roles in a dynamic global economy.
What Comes Next — For JPMorgan, Berkshire, and Shareholders
At JPMorgan, Combs’ first task will likely involve sourcing and evaluating companies suitable for the Strategic Investment Group’s portfolio. Given the size of the funding commitment — $10 billion initially, with potential for more as projects prove successful — investors and market watchers will pay close attention to the sectors he targets. Early decisions could shape outcomes in defense contracting, advanced manufacturing, healthcare innovation, clean energy, and more.
For Berkshire and GEICO, the transition appears designed for stability. Nancy Pierce’s elevation ensures continuity of GEICO’s operations. Meanwhile, the staggered succession at the corporate headquarters (CFO, general counsel, overall CEO) suggests a plan built for long-term resilience, even as one of its most prominent investment stars departs.
Shareholders may view the moves with a mixture of caution and optimism. On one hand, losing a trusted manager like Combs could raise questions about long-term investment strategy leadership. On the other, the firm’s proactive restructuring — including hiring internal executives and codifying legal and financial operations — may reassure those worried about the post-Buffett era.
Broader Implications: What the Move Says About Wall Street’s Direction
Combs’s transition from a pure investment-management role inside a conglomerate to leading a massive direct-investment fund at a global bank underscores a major shift in Wall Street’s landscape. It reflects how large financial institutions are evolving — combining traditional banking, asset management, direct venture investments, and even strategic national-security infrastructure roles.
This blend of banking and long-term investing blurs old industry boundaries. As firms like JPMorgan build out ambitious initiatives to invest in critical sectors, the financial world may see more cross-pollination between banks, private equity and corporate investment arms. Combs’s move could inspire other top investors to consider similar shifts, particularly as institutional pressure builds around domestic manufacturing, supply-chain resilience, and critical infrastructure.
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