Ajit Jain

Ajit Jain (born 23 July 1951) is an Indian American executive who is the Vice Chairman of Insurance Operations for Berkshire Hathaway as of January 10, 2018.[1][2] He was raised in India's coastal state of Orissa. Ajit Jain is an older cousin of Anshu Jain, who was the former Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank.

Ajit Jain
Born	(1951-07-23) 23 July 1951 Orissa, India
Citizenship	United States
Education	IIT Kharagpur (B.Tech) Harvard University (MBA)
Occupation	Businessman
Title	Vice Chairman of Insurance Operations, Berkshire Hathaway
Board member of	Berkshire Hathaway

Education

In 1972, Jain graduated from the IIT Kharagpur in India with a BTech degree in Mechanical Engineering.[3][4]

Career

From 1973 to 1976, Jain worked for IBM as a salesman for their data-processing operations in India. He was named "Rookie of the Year" in his region in 1973.[5] He lost his job in 1976 when IBM discontinued their operation in India because they declined to allow any Indian ownership of the company, as was then required by law.[5]

In 1978, Jain moved to the United States, where he earned an MBA from Harvard University and joined McKinsey & Co. He returned to India in the early 1980s and married. The Jains then moved back to the United States, as Jain's wife preferred to live there.[6]

In 1986, he left McKinsey to work on insurance operations for Warren Buffett. Jain was invited by his former boss, Michael Goldberg, who had left McKinsey & Co. to join Berkshire Hathaway in 1982.[5] At the time, he said he knew little about the insurance business.[7]

In the annual letter to shareholders on 2014, it was suggested that both Jain and Greg Abel could be appropriate successors for Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.[8][9] In January 2018, Jain was named Berkshire Hathaway's vice chair of insurance operations and appointed to Hathaway's Board of Directors.[10]

Jain lives in the New York City area.[11]

Philanthropy

In 2005, Jain established the Jain Foundation, a non-profit organization located in Seattle, Washington, the mission of which is to cure limb-girdle muscular dystrophies caused by dysferlin protein deficiency, a condition that Jain's son has.[12][13] Pallavi Jain Mittal, who earned her PhD in molecular biology from Brandeis University,[14] was the initial President and CEO.[12][14] In May 2017, Mittal formed In-Depth Genomics, an organization providing free whole-genome sequencing and analysis to people with rare diseases.[15]

See also

• List of Jains
• Indians in the New York City metropolitan region

References

1. S, Anusha; Krishnan, Janaki (2003-06-27). "Warren Buffett testing Indian market". Rediff. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
2. Kim, Tae (2018-01-10). "Warren Buffett takes a step closer to naming a successor as Berkshire appoints Abel and Jain to board as vice chairs". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
3. "Ajit Jain leads pack to take over from Warren Buffett". Hindustan Times. 2012-05-08.
4. Holm, Erik; Ng, Serena (2012-05-05). "In Ajit Jain, Some See Next Buffett". The Wall Street Journal. pp. B1–B2. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
5. Miles, Robert P. (2001). The Warren Buffett CEO: Secrets from the Berkshire Hathaway Managers. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 69–70. ISBN 0-471-44259-3.
6. "Ajit Jain: Berkshire's next Oracle?". Rediff India Abroad. 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
7. Urban, Rob (2006-07-11). "Jain, Buffett Pupil, Boosts Berkshire Cash as Succession Looms". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2006-07-23.
8. "Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter for 2014" (PDF). his successors would not be 'of only moderate ability.' For instance, Ajit Jain and Greg Abel are proven performers
9. "Ajit Jain may head Buffett firm". The Asian Age. Press Trust of India (PTI). 2015-03-02. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
10. Kim, Tae (10 January 2018). "Warren Buffett takes a step closer to naming a successor as Berkshire appoints Abel and Jain to board as vice chairs". Retrieved 10 January 2018.
11. Steve Jordon (May 2, 2015). "Meet Ajit Jain, the man in charge of Warren Buffett's profit machine". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
12. "It's personal: Big business searches for cures". Fortune. 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2014-07-27.
13. "Jain Foundation Steps Up Efforts to Find Cure for Muscular Dystrophy". Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2014-07-27.
14. "Biography of MDCC Members". Muscular Dystrophy Coordinating Committee. NIH.
15. Kanagawa, Katie (22 June 2017). "Feature Interview: Dr. Plavi Mittal, Founder & CEO, In-Depth Genomics". CEHG blog.

Further reading

• Matthews, Jeff, "Secrets in Plain Sight: Business and Investing Secrets of Warren Buffett," eBooks On Investing, 2012.