Jensen Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer and board member of NVIDIA, effective immediately. The company’s Board of Directors announced the change on 12 November.
Colette Kress, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, will step in as Interim CEO. She will keep her CFO role while she leads the company. The Board has started a search for a permanent chief executive. It will look at both internal and external candidates.
Who is Colette Kress
Kress is an Executive Vice President. She joined NVIDIA as CFO in September 2013 and has led its finance organisation since then. The company says she has played a key role in its growth and evolution.
Before NVIDIA, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at leading technology companies, including Cisco and Microsoft.
First-ever Chair named
The Board also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever Chair. Jones has worked for more than 30 years as an entrepreneur, technology executive and venture investor. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of Synopsys.
Jones said Kress has helped guide NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth. He said she understands the company’s business, customers, operations and financial position well. He added that an experienced leadership team supports her. The Board has full confidence in both, he said. It expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption.
Kress said NVIDIA’s strength has always come from its people. She said she will build on the foundation Huang created over 33 years. Her focus, she said, stays on customers, partners, developers and shareholders.
The Board and the company thanked Huang for his contributions to the company and the industry. They called NVIDIA one of the most consequential technology companies in the world.
Independent investigation
Earlier, the Board had announced an independent investigation after recent reporting that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. A committee of independent directors will oversee it. Outside independent counsel will assist.
The Board said US national and economic security is paramount to the interests of NVIDIA and its shareholders. It said it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised. The inquiry will still examine all available information.
At that point, the Board said Huang fully supported the review and had committed to cooperate. It also said it had confidence in him and his leadership team. It promised further updates as appropriate.
Earnings date unchanged
NVIDIA will report its third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, 17 November, at about 1:20 p.m. PT. The earnings call follows at 2 p.m. PT, as scheduled.
