Who is Colette Kress, Nvidia's interim CEO?

Colette Kress, named interim CEO of Nvidia following Jensen Huang's sudden resignation on Thursday (local time), is regarded as a veteran finance executive. Kress studied finance at the University of Arizona and earned an MBA from Southern Methodist University before joining Nvidia as chief financial officer in 2013, having previously held finance roles at major technology companies including Cisco and Microsoft.

When Kress joined, Nvidia was in the midst of transforming from a niche manufacturer of video game processors into a company at the center of the AI industry. She worked closely with Huang throughout that transformation, and Huang is said to have placed great trust in her.

According to The New York Times, shortly after being hired as CFO, Kress asked Huang how long she would be expected to stay in the role. Huang recalled his answer on a podcast this year: "I told her, 'As long as we're alive — till death do us part.'"

During her time as CFO, Kress voiced concerns about the financial impact on Nvidia of the US administration's policy restricting exports of advanced semiconductors to China.

In 2023, she told financial analysts that China accounted for 20 to 25 percent of Nvidia's data center sales, and warned that beyond the loss of that revenue, the restrictions risked strengthening the position of Nvidia's rivals in China, The New York Times reported.

A key part of Kress's role as CFO was communicating with Wall Street and Nvidia investors. When she joined in 2013, Nvidia's annual sales stood at $4.28 billion; they have since surged to $215.9 billion.

Nvidia's explosive growth has made Kress a billionaire. According to the company's most recent annual report, she holds 4.44 million Nvidia shares, valued at $772 million.