- Kress will hold both the interim CEO and CFO roles
- Congressional committees have summoned Huang for December appearances
- Harvey Jones becomes the company’s first board chair
NVIDIA announced Thursday the appointment of Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim chief executive officer following Jensen Huang’s resignation as president, CEO and board member.
Kress will remain as executive vice president and CFO while serving in the interim role, the company said Thursday.
“NVIDIA’s strength has always come from its people, and together with our leadership team, I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years,” Kress commented on her new role.
“We will continue advancing the work that has made NVIDIA a leader in accelerated computing and AI, and execute on the opportunities ahead. Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders,” she added.
The board of directors has initiated a search for a permanent successor, evaluating both internal and external candidates. It separately named Harvey Jones as its first chair.
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Who Is Colette Kress?
Kress has been NVIDIA’s executive vice president and CFO since September 2013. Before joining NVIDIA, she spent nearly three years at Cisco as senior vice president and CFO for business technology and operations finance and four and a half years at Microsoft as a corporate vice president. She holds a master’s degree in finance from Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.
Who Is Harvey Jones?
Jones has served on NVIDIA’s board of directors since 1993, predating the chipmaker’s public debut, Reuters reported. He sits on its audit and nominating and corporate governance committees.
He co-founded Daisy Systems in 1981, holding the roles of president and CEO through 1987. He subsequently helmed Synopsys for seven years as CEO before transitioning to executive chairman, steering the firm through its 1992 public debut. In 1997, he co-founded Tensilica and chaired its board until Cadence Design Systems acquired it in 2013. Jones has been a managing partner of Square Wave Ventures since 2004. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Why Did Jensen Huang Resign?
NVIDIA’s announcement gives no reason for the departure. It follows reports that Huang was involved in relationships with a company executive and, separately, with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed official whose ties to the Chinese government remain under examination by the U.S. intelligence community, CNN reported.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied the espionage allegations. Spokesperson Mao Ning said Thursday that the U.S. should stop fabricating espionage narratives and using them to justify a technological blockade.
President Donald Trump said on the same day that it remains unclear whether the woman was a spy and that her status should have factored into Huang’s resignation decision. He had spoken with Huang prior to the resignation and encouraged him to resist calls to step down, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.
What Does Congress Want With Huang?
The chairs of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees and the Select Committee on China summoned Huang Thursday for a closed-door interview Dec. 1, giving him until Friday evening to accept voluntarily or face a subpoena.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott separately asked Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify voluntarily Dec. 3, writing that recent reports raise concerns about national security and the protection of sensitive U.S. technology. Scott said the committee is prepared to subpoena both.
How Did Markets React to Huang’s Resignation?
Shares of NVIDIA finished Thursday’s session down 4.34 percent, wiping out approximately $182 billion in market capitalization, after sliding as much as 14.35 percent intraday before bargain buyers emerged, CNN reported. The stock has lost about 30.5 percent or $1.76 trillion since its Oct. 6 record.
Other chipmakers gained. Advanced Micro Devices rose 5.86 percent and Broadcom went up 5.54 percent. CoreWeave, which NVIDIA backs, fell 6.86 percent.
NVIDIA will report third-quarter fiscal 2027 results Tuesday as previously scheduled.
