Rose moving to BNSF chairman

[rogermunibond]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-12-11/berkshire-railway-names-ice-ceo-with-rose-executive-chairman-1

 

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131211006363/en/BNSF-Railway-Announces-CEO-Executive-Chairman-Transition

 

Carl Ice to become CEO; Matt Rose moving to executive chairman.  Does this spell Rose's first step to get ready for taking on the CEO role at BRK?

[Grenville]

Thanks for posting! It will be interesting to see how Matt Rose's responsibilities evolve.

[Guest longinvestor]

Wonder if Warren will follow the usual tradition of appointing a COO. He actually did that with Sokol and that blew up. I think it does make sense. Should we expect this on May 3rd, 2014? I also think Abel has a real shot at the CEO spot because if they come good on investments MidAmerican looks to get much larger with solar and wind.

[Palantir]

Is there any reason why Marc Hamburg never figures in these "next CEO" lists?

[usdtor05]

I think Jeff Matthews short book on the Berkshire successor was pretty solid. He has always described Hamburg as acting moreso like a Chief Accounting Officer moreso than your typical CFO but I have no idea if that is approrpriate.

 

[twacowfca]

I think Jeff Matthews short book on the Berkshire successor was pretty solid. He has always described Hamburg as acting moreso like a Chief Accounting Officer moreso than your typical CFO but I have no idea if that is approrpriate.

 

Marc has functioned as a de facto COO, holding all the CEO's of the subsidiaries accountable for ethics, financial oversights and ROC targets. However, after pushback a few years ago, Warren asked the CEO's of the major subsidiaries to report directly to him.  thus, when Marc spotted the ethical lapse by Sokol, Warren had to deal with him. 

 

Greg and Matt are certainly on the short list because they are managers of large subsidiaries and are young enough to fill the CEO role for more than a short time without becoming superannuated.  Ajit (who enjoys his job more than he would being manager of a conglomerate) and Marc, who would be very capable as CEO were he not being called to manage superstars who are paid 20 times as much as he, are in their early 60's.  They would not be perceived as being in the role for more than a brief term.

 

Matt's stepping down as BNSF 's CEO, suggests that he's the man .  I would not be surprised to see Charlie step down as Vice Chairman at or before the AGM with Matt replacing him and becoming the heir apparent to Warren.