Ajit Jain

Ajit Jain (अजित जैन) (born, 1951 in India) is a businessman who currently heads several reinsurance businesses for Berkshire Hathaway[1] and has been touted as a possible successor to Warren Buffett.[2]

Jain's potential rivals to head up Berkshire when Buffett departs are Joseph Brandon, who heads up Berkshire Hathaway's General Re Corp., whose offices in Stamford, Connecticut are about a mile away from Jain's; Richard Santulli, who runs NetJets Inc., an operator of private jets; and Tony Nicely, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway's GEICO Corp.[3]

Jain working in Stamford, remains in close contact with Buffett, who said at a May 7, 2006 news conference, "I still do talk to him every day. That's how I get smarter." In a news conference held in May of 2005, he said: "There is nobody at Berkshire Hathaway that I would have more confidence in than Ajit." Buffett also once said about Jain at a Berkshire Hathaway annual stockholders meeting: "If you see him here, be sure to bow".

In letters Buffett has written accompanying Berkshire's reports to shareholders, he has consistently praised Jain:[3]

In 2002: "I have known the details of almost every policy that Ajit has written since he came with us in 1986. ... His extraordinary discipline, of course, does not eliminate losses; it does, however, prevent foolish losses. And that's the key: Just as is the case in investing, insurers produce outstanding long-term results primarily by avoiding dumb decisions, rather than by making brilliant ones."[4]
In 2003: "It's impossible to overstate his value to Berkshire."[5]
In 2004: "Ajit's value to Berkshire is enormous."[6]
In 2005: Buffett called him "an extraordinary manager."[7]
In 2008: "Ajit came to Berkshire in 1986. Very quickly, I realized that we had acquired an extraordinary talent. So I did the logical thing: I wrote his parents in New Delhi and asked if they had another one like him at home. Of course, I knew the answer before writing. There isn’t anyone like Ajit."[8]

source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Jain