Nvidia Names Harvey Jones Its First Chair After 33 Years on Board

By Sophie Lindqvist

Nvidia named Harvey C. Jones its first-ever chair on November 12, 2026, 33 years after he joined its board in 1993, the company’s founding year. The same announcement said Jensen Huang had resigned as president, CEO and a director, effective immediately.

Chief financial officer Colette Kress became interim CEO, while the Jones-led board searches inside and outside Nvidia for a permanent successor. The move leaves a roughly $3.97 trillion chipmaker without a permanent chief while its board investigates Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang.

What changed on Thursday?

Nvidia created a separate chair role for the first time and put Jones in charge of the board. He will lead the CEO search while also serving on the audit committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee, which oversees board membership and usually leadership succession.

Trading data reported by 24/7 Wall St. showed Nvidia opening at $151.01 and falling as low as $148.80, about $2.18 trillion below its October 6 record value. At 10:46 AM ET, the stock stood at $164.56, 10.6% above the low and down 5.3% from Wednesday’s close.

Jones issued one public statement about the transition, and the company released no candidate details with it. He said: “Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” adding that she is supported by an experienced leadership team.

Nvidia gave investors no permanent-CEO timeline, shortlist or succession plan. The company changed its command structure without filling the top job.

Who is Harvey Jones?

According to Nvidia’s biography, Jones has spent more than 30 years as an entrepreneur, technology executive and venture investor. In 1981, he co-founded Daisy Systems, a computer-aided engineering company, and served as its president and CEO through 1987.

From 1987 to 1998, Jones led Synopsys, whose software is used to design chips. He served as its CEO for seven years and then became executive chairman.

In 1997, he co-founded Tensilica, which licensed processor designs, and chaired it until Cadence Design Systems bought it in 2013. Since 2004, he has run Square Wave Ventures, a private investment firm.

Jones holds a math and computer science degree from Georgetown and a management degree from MIT. He joined Nvidia’s board in 1993, when three engineers founded the graphics-chip company in California.

His committee seats already place him close to board oversight and leadership planning. As chair, he now has direct responsibility for the succession process.

Why does his earlier CEO handoff matter?

The most relevant precedent comes from Synopsys. In 1994, Jones handed the CEO job to Aart de Geus, one of the company’s founders, and remained executive chairman; de Geus led Synopsys for about 30 years.

That experience gives Jones a direct view of a founder handoff at a chip-design company, but from the opposite direction. At Synopsys, a founder succeeded the sitting CEO; at Nvidia, the founder is leaving and the chair must find a replacement.

The parallel offers relevant judgment, not a ready-made answer. Investors still have no disclosed shortlist or timetable for Nvidia’s permanent chief.

What remains unresolved?

Jones has made no other public statement about the transition so far. His public remarks focus on Kress’s experience and the support behind her interim leadership.

The board’s own investigation, led by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz with former acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim, remains open. It examines Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore’s Megaspeed.

U.S. officials suspect Alice Huang of spying for China. China calls that claim “groundless,” and Huang has not been accused of a crime.

The unresolved allegation adds a national-security dimension to a board transition already missing a permanent chief. Jones must manage the CEO search while Wachtell’s inquiry continues without public findings.

Who could become the next CEO?

Analysts cited by 24/7 Wall St. named Kress and Ian Buck, who runs Nvidia’s hyperscale business, as internal candidates. Bloomberg reported that the board had also been working with an outside firm to identify candidates.

24/7 Wall St. also said Nvidia “has never chosen a CEO,” even though Huang led the company from its founding years. The search still has no timeline or shortlist, leaving Kress in place only temporarily.

With internal candidates and an outside search in view, the board has not said how it will weigh either path. Jones now chairs the body that must make the choice.

What does this mean for shareholders?

For investors, 24/7 Wall St. said the decision that matters today is the size of the Nvidia position. The company represents about 6% of the S&P 500 and more of the Nasdaq-100, so most retirement accounts own it directly or through funds.

The source advised investors whose Nvidia exposure exceeds about 10% of a portfolio to consider trimming inside an IRA, which it said costs nothing in taxes. That advice ties the leadership change to concentration risk rather than to the chair appointment alone.

Nvidia’s roughly $3.97 trillion valuation gives the succession unusual stakes for institutional and retirement portfolios. Investors still lack a permanent chief, a public deadline and a resolution to the Wachtell inquiry.

For shareholders, exposure is today’s issue; leadership continuity is the next one.

What happens next?

Jones now controls three unresolved parts of the transition: the permanent CEO search, the succession timetable and the open Wachtell investigation. His board tenure reaches back to Nvidia’s founding year, but the company has disclosed neither a candidate shortlist nor a deadline.

Three disclosures will carry the most weight:

• The identity of the permanent CEO, and whether the board chooses from inside or outside.
• The timetable for the search and any role for Kress or Buck.
• Any findings or conclusions from Wachtell’s investigation into Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang.

His earlier founder handoff gives him a relevant template, though not a guarantee of continuity. The next test is whether Jones can produce a permanent leadership plan and clearer answers on the open investigation.