New CEO appointments happen constantly, and most of them don’t matter much beyond an org chart. This is the first in a continent-wise series specifically about the ones that do — real people, newly in the role, with a specific reason their appointment is worth watching rather than just noting. This installment covers North America.
Greg Abel — Berkshire Hathaway
Abel took over as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway on January 1, 2026, ending Warren Buffett’s run atop the company — a leadership era that had lasted since Buffett took control in 1965, more than six decades. Buffett publicly named Abel his chosen successor back in 2021, after promoting him to vice chair in 2018 alongside Ajit Jain, so this wasn’t a surprise pick — it was the culmination of a genuinely long, deliberate succession plan, which is itself rare at a company this size.
Abel is a Canadian native who has long lived in Des Moines, Iowa — he became a U.S. citizen in June 2026 — and built his career running Berkshire Hathaway Energy, where he oversaw significant investment in wind and solar power alongside the company’s continued coal and natural gas operations. His early moves as CEO have signaled a willingness to actually deploy Berkshire’s famous, long-accumulated cash reserves rather than simply continue sitting on them: a roughly $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison Home gave the conglomerate a larger foothold in housing at what’s been described as a notably good valuation.
Why he’s worth watching: succeeding a figure as singular as Buffett is close to an impossible act to follow cleanly, and how Abel balances continuity with his own distinct decisions — the housing acquisition being an early data point — will be one of the more closely watched leadership stories in business for years, not months.
John Furner — Walmart
Furner became Walmart’s CEO in June 2026, taking over the world’s largest retailer by revenue at a moment when the entire sector is under real pressure from both e-commerce competition and cautious consumer spending. Furner rose through Walmart’s own ranks rather than arriving as an outside hire, which matters for how quickly a leader can move — an internal successor typically needs far less onboarding time on the specifics of the business than an external one, though it also means less of an outside perspective forcing a genuine reassessment of long-held assumptions.
Why he’s worth watching: Walmart’s scale means its CEO’s decisions ripple through retail, logistics, and consumer spending trends broadly — how Furner navigates the current pressure on traditional retail will be a genuine bellwether for the sector, not just a company-specific story.
Artie Starr — Harley-Davidson
Starr was named President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, taking the helm of an American manufacturing icon that has spent the past several years working through real headwinds — an aging core customer base, competition from a new generation of motorcycle brands, and the broader challenge of making a heritage brand relevant to riders who didn’t grow up with it as the default choice.
Why he’s worth watching: Harley-Davidson’s next chapter is genuinely uncertain in a way that makes new leadership there higher-stakes than a routine succession — the brand’s ability to actually reach a next generation of riders, not just retain its existing one, is a real open question his tenure will start to answer.
Why this list is North America only, for now
This series is running region by region rather than as one global roundup, specifically so each entry gets real depth instead of being reduced to a name and a headline. Europe and Asia are next.
