Warren Buffett’s Grandson Looks to Shape Family’s Giving at Father’s Foundation

Background: Howard W. Buffett, 27, the new executive director of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, is a grandson of the billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

About the foundation: Started in 1999 by Howard W. Buffett’s father, Howard G. Buffett, the Decatur, Ill., foundation gives away about $50-million each year to agriculture, clean water, and other issues.

Why he’s taking over: His father wants time to focus on strategy, not management.

Previous jobs: The new foundation leader served most recently as director of an agricultural development program run by the U.S. Defense Department in Afghanistan and Iraq. Before that, he worked as a domestic policy adviser for the Obama White House and on a project about nonprofit evaluation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Education: Mr. Buffett holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from Northwestern University, and a master’s in public administration and finance from Columbia.

Salary: $95,000

Why he wanted the job: For the professional challenge and the chance to help shape his family’s impact on philanthropy. Says Mr. Buffett: “Philanthropy will be the greatest legacy of my family, I hope more than the success my grandfather has had in investments.”

On working with his father: The two may not share the same political views—like his grandfather, Howard W. Buffett is a Democrat, while his father is a Republican—but Mr. Buffett says the last fight between them took place more than a dozen years ago, when he didn’t want to go home after a family vacation.

His goals: To help turn the philanthropy into a more professionally run organization, and to move toward making bigger grants.

One challenge he anticipates: Knowing when it’s the right time to move on. He’s committed to staying at least two years at the foundation.

What he’s reading: Co-opetition, by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff, a book about management theory.