Nvidia searches for permanent CEO as Kress takes interim charge
Nvidia is considering internal and external candidates to succeed Jensen Huang, with finance chief Colette Kress leading the company during the search.
By Olga Menon ·
Nvidia has begun looking for a permanent chief executive following the resignation of co-founder Jensen Huang amid allegations of multiple extramarital affairs. The allegations include an affair with an alleged Chinese spy and two involving company employees. The company immediately appointed its chief financial officer, Colette Kress, as interim CEO.
The board is considering candidates from both within Nvidia and outside the company. Kress could retain the position permanently, while other names being discussed include Nvidia executive Ian Buck, Arm Holdings chief executive Rene Haas and AMD chief executive Lisa Su. The leadership upheaval comes ahead of Nvidia’s third-quarter earnings report, scheduled for next Tuesday.
The appointment will put a new leader at the centre of the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence industry. Nvidia designs advanced chips that train AI models and support companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. With a market value of approximately $4tn, it is among the world’s most valuable businesses and a major force in the US economy.
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and maintained extensive involvement across its operations. His unusual management structure included about 60 direct reports, giving him considerable oversight of daily business. His son and daughter also work for Nvidia. Although his daughter has been viewed as a potential proxy for him, neither appears to have enough experience to lead the company.
Kress, 59, became Nvidia’s CFO in 2013 after holding finance positions at Texas Instruments, Microsoft and Cisco. A familiar participant in quarterly earnings calls, she has overseen the company’s financial operations during its transformation from a specialist in video game chips into a trillion-dollar AI business. She will hold both the CEO and interim CFO positions until the board appoints a permanent successor.
In a statement on Thursday, newly appointed board chair Harvey C Jones expressed confidence in Kress and the leadership team, pointing to her understanding of Nvidia’s customers, operations and finances. Kress, meanwhile, credited the company’s employees for its strength and said she intended to build on the foundation Huang had established over 33 years.
Buck, another potential internal successor, joined Nvidia in 2004 and manages its AI hardware and software products. His responsibilities include deploying generative AI alongside major technology and AI companies, among them Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and OpenAI.
Among the external names under discussion, Haas has a history at Nvidia, where he spent seven years as a vice president and general manager before joining UK-based chipmaker Arm in 2013. Su leads AMD, Nvidia’s most direct chipmaking rival, and is also a distant cousin of Huang.
