Jensen Huang Resigns From Nvidia; CFO Colette Kress Takes Over

Nvidia's board announced Thursday that co-founder Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately, ending a 33-year run at the top of a company now worth roughly $3.8 trillion. The board gave no transition period. No succession plan existed.

CFO and Executive Vice President Colette Kress steps in as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor. The company reports quarterly earnings Tuesday, which will give analysts their first extended look at Kress's immediate agenda.\n

Why did Huang leave now?

The resignation followed reports that Huang had affairs with an alleged Chinese spy and with one of his direct reports at Nvidia. The board's announcement did not itself detail those findings, and the company has not published an independent investigation report — that gap will pressure Tuesday's earnings call. Huang never built a succession plan during his tenure, according to accounts of his centrality to the company, so the board is starting from zero.

Who is Colette Kress?

Kress, 59 and based in California, has worked at Nvidia since September 2013 — just over 11 years. Her record before that:

• Three years as SVP and CFO of Cisco's Business Technology Operations Finance organization.
• 13 years at Microsoft, including four years as CFO of the Server and Tools division.
• A finance degree from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Forbes estimates her net worth at about $1.2 billion, placing her on its list of America's Richest Self-Made Women. Her Forbes profile notes she joined Nvidia partly because her two sons endorsed the company for its role in the video game industry, then its best-known business.

She is not a public-facing executive in the Huang mold. Her LinkedIn activity amounts to well-wishes on retiring colleagues' posts. But she has been a regular on Nvidia's earnings calls for over a decade, making her a known quantity to the analysts who cover the stock. Known to analysts is not the same as tested as CEO of a $3.8 trillion company — nothing in her record includes running a product organization.

What has Kress committed to?

In a statement, Kress said: "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."

She added: "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."

The statement promises continuity. It does not address the conduct reports that ended Huang's tenure, the scope of the board's review, or the timeline for the permanent CEO search — three questions Tuesday's earnings call cannot easily avoid.

What happens next?

The board conducts its search with no stated deadline. Tuesday's earnings report is the next scheduled disclosure. Expect questions on the investigation, on customer and partner reassurance, and on whether Kress is a candidate for the permanent role — none of which the company has answered so far.

For a company whose chips underpin the AI boom, the leadership of the last 33 years ended in a morning announcement. The next week will show whether the interim arrangement holds.