Colette Kress Now Leads Nvidia After Jensen Huang's Exit

Colette Kress became Nvidia's interim chief executive on Thursday after Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and a board member, effective immediately. She retains her role as chief financial officer while Nvidia searches for a permanent successor.

Nvidia made the announcement at 8:47 AM ET. The move places its longtime finance chief in charge of a company worth about $3.91 trillion, one it has never run with any chief executive other than its founder.

The context is immediate. Nvidia was already managing a sharp decline in shareholder value, and the leadership change landed during that selloff rather than causing it.

How much Nvidia's value fell

Nvidia opened Thursday at $151.01 and fell as low as $148.80. At 9:42 AM ET, the stock traded at $161.84, down 6.8% from Wednesday's close and 13.3% since November 6.

That put Nvidia about $1.87 trillion below its October 6 record market value. At the day's low, the gap stood at roughly $2.18 trillion.

Those figures establish the stakes for Kress's first day. She inherited a business whose market value has contracted sharply, with the reasons for Huang's departure still under investigation.

Takeaway: Kress took over during a steep market decline, not a period of stability.

Why Huang resigned

Nvidia said Huang resigned after reports of two relationships, one with a woman U.S. officials suspect of spying for China.

The board's investigation into his relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore's Megaspeed, remains open. China calls the spying claim against her groundless.

The source does not say what those two relationships were, beyond the reference in Nvidia's announcement. It also does not specify whether the reports, rather than an established finding, triggered the resignation.

Huang served as Nvidia's public face for 33 years. He maintained relationships with the company's largest customers, suppliers and governments, and was a regular presence in Washington.

Takeaway: The board has not explained the full basis for Huang's exit, and one related investigation remains open.

What the board said

Harvey C. Jones said in Nvidia's announcement: "Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position."

The board appointed Jones its first-ever chair on the same day. Jones described Kress as supported by an experienced leadership team.

Jones previously served as CEO of chip-design software maker Synopsys. The source does not quote him on the investigation, the timing of a permanent CEO search, or the company's strategy under interim leadership.

His statement makes two specific claims. It identifies Kress's understanding of Nvidia's finances as an asset, and it rests on her financial record rather than a separate operational track record.

Takeaway: The board cited Kress's financial command of the company as the central qualification for the role.

Who Kress is

Nvidia hired Kress as chief financial officer from Cisco in September 2013. At the time, the company still operated primarily as a graphics chip company.

Her annual report career path begins with a series of finance jobs at Texas Instruments. She later moved to Microsoft, where she became CFO of the Server and Tools division in 2006.

At Cisco, she served as senior vice president and CFO of the Business Technology and Operations Finance organization.

Kress earned a finance degree from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

The source says she spent nearly 25 years in finance before Nvidia, according to the company. At Nvidia, she led the finance organization for 13 years and delivered the quarterly earnings commentary that Wall Street follows.

That role made her the executive who presented Nvidia's results to investors. It also means she now holds both the chief financial officer and interim chief executive titles at the same time.

Takeaway: Kress brings long-standing knowledge of Nvidia's finances, but the source gives no equivalent track record running the entire company.

What changed on her watch

Nvidia's revenue rose from $4.13 billion in the fiscal year that ended in January 2014 to $216 billion in the fiscal year that ended in January 2026. That represents roughly 52 times the earlier total.

Net income increased from $440 million to $120 billion over the same period. Nvidia's annual profit now stands at about 29 times the company's entire sales when Kress arrived.

The share price moved further. Adjusted for stock splits, Nvidia closed at about 37 cents a share on September 16, 2013. At $161.84, the stock traded at roughly 438 times that adjusted price.

A $10,000 investment made on that date would be worth about $4.4 million, according to the source, even after this week's decline.

The financial trajectory is clear. It also does not isolate how much of the growth Kress directed as CFO, rather than the company's broader business shift.

Takeaway: Nvidia's revenue, profit and stock price grew dramatically during Kress's tenure, though the source does not assign sole responsibility to her.

What she inherits

Nvidia's structure presents a specific challenge for an interim chief executive. The company has operated under its founder for 33 years, with Huang holding the public role and the relationships that came with it.

Kress now runs the finance organization and the company, while the board searches both inside and outside Nvidia for a permanent CEO.

Reuters, as cited in the source, named Kress herself and Ian Buck, who runs Nvidia's hyperscale business, as possible internal candidates. The source does not name any external candidates, and it does not give a timeline for the search.

Running two executive roles at once concentrates the decision-making and financial duties in one person. It also leaves open the possibility that Kress herself becomes the permanent CEO.

The source does not provide evidence on whether the board has settled on a succession process or how long it intends to wait.

Takeaway: Kress has direct financial knowledge of Nvidia, but she must split her attention across two top jobs while the search continues.

What shareholders should do

The source advises readers to determine how much of their money is exposed to Nvidia. That includes holdings inside index funds as well as shares owned directly.

It then recommends sizing the position at a level the investor can hold through a search that may take months. No specific portfolio percentage appears in the source.

This advice follows directly from the reported facts. Nvidia has lost about $1.87 trillion in market value from its October 6 record, and the leadership change leaves investors facing an open investigation and an unfinished CEO search.

The source does not analyze Nvidia's products, competitive position or financial guidance. It also omits any explanation for why the stock fell so sharply from its record, apart from the leadership change and the timing described above.

Takeaway: The practical question for investors is exposure during an unsettled leadership period, not a verdict on Nvidia's underlying business.

The search for a permanent CEO will determine how much of the uncertainty persists. Until Nvidia names a successor and closes or resolves the investigation into Huang, the market will have no clear signal on who leads the company next or how the board will handle that open inquiry.