Meet Colette Kress, Nvidia’s New Interim CEO
Nvidia’s board of directors has appointed longtime CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO following the resignation of cofounder Jensen Huang amid a scandal over his extramarital affair with a Chinese businesswoman.
The sudden departure of Jensen Huang, the public face of Nvidia, has been filled by a leader who has long managed the company’s relationship with Wall Street.
Colette Kress, who joined Nvidia in 2013, is now at the helm of the chipmaker as it faces intense scrutiny and an ongoing internal investigation.
The board announced Kress’s appointment on Thursday, citing her deep understanding of the company’s business, customers, operations, and financial position.
Kress was widely considered the most obvious candidate to succeed Huang, according to multiple tech executives and industry analysts.
Her long tenure, credibility with investors, and familiarity with Nvidia’s finances set her apart from other potential successors like Ian Buck and Jeff Fisher.
Patrick Moorhead, founder and chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategies, described her as the logical choice for the role.
She has credibility with investors because she answers hard questions directly.
Moorhead noted that Kress operates as much more than a "numbers" CFO, engaging in deep conversations about the company's product roadmap.
Before joining Nvidia, Kress spent more than two decades in finance roles at Microsoft, Cisco, and Texas Instruments.
Huang personally recruited her in 2013, when Nvidia was best known for its gaming graphics cards, to help execute his vision for AI infrastructure.
The board said on Sunday it was launching an independent investigation into Huang’s activities following a report by The New York Times.
The report alleged that Huang had an affair with a woman named Alice Huang, whom US officials suspected of being a Chinese spy.
WIRED reported that Huang quietly hired a crisis communications firm last year to handle matters related to his personal life.
By October of that year, the firm was being looped in on all press inquiries involving Huang at Nvidia.
The investigation also looked into whether a company linked to Alice Huang had helped Chinese firms evade US chip export controls.
While Kress is incredibly sharp and can step into the CEO role immediately, she lacks the engineering and technical expertise that Huang brought to the position.
She has also shied away from being at the center of public attention, a style that might be a welcome change given the intense scrutiny surrounding Huang.
The board has full confidence in Kress and says she will be supported by an experienced leadership team.
The next step for the company is the conclusion of the independent investigation into the former CEO's activities.
Related
