Jensen Huang steps down as NVIDIA chief, CFO Kress takes interim helm
Jensen Huang has resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer of NVIDIA and stepped down from its Board of Directors with immediate effect, with Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress appointed Interim CEO, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
According to the company’s statement released on November 12, Kress will keep her current duties as Executive Vice President and CFO while leading the company until a permanent successor is named. The Board has launched a search for a permanent chief executive and will consider both internal and external candidates. The statement did not specify the reason for Huang’s departure.
The Board also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever Chair. Jones, an entrepreneur, technology executive and venture investor with more than 30 years of experience, previously served as CEO and Executive Chairman of Synopsys.
Jones said Kress has a deep understanding of NVIDIA’s business, customers, operations and financial position, and is backed by an experienced leadership team.
“The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption”, Jones said.
Kress pledged to build on the foundation Huang created over the past 33 years and said the company’s focus remains on its customers, partners, developers and shareholders.
“We will continue advancing the work that has made NVIDIA a leader in accelerated computing and AI, and execute on the opportunities ahead”, she said.
Kress joined NVIDIA as Executive Vice President and CFO in September 2013 and has since overseen the company’s finance organization. Before that, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at technology companies. At Cisco, she served as Senior Vice President and CFO of the Business Technology and Operations Finance organization, and at Microsoft she was CFO of the Server and Tools division. Company filings show she also held finance positions at Texas Instruments for eight years.
Huang co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and had served as its President, CEO, and a Board member since the company’s inception. The Board thanked him for what it called immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.
The resignation comes four days after NVIDIA’s Board announced on November 8 that it was opening an independent investigation following reports that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. At the time, the Board said a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, would oversee the inquiry, and that it had no reason to believe U.S. national security or company secrets had been compromised.
NVIDIA will release its third-quarter fiscal 2027 financial results on November 17 at approximately 1:20 p.m. PT as previously scheduled, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m. PT.
Earlier, Qazinform reported that Nvidia and CEO Jensen Huang faced a shareholder lawsuit accusing them of misleading investors over his alleged relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence operative.
