After Nvidia officially announced that co-founder Jensen Huang has decided to resign from all company positions, including CEO, chairman, and director, the board appointed Colette Kress, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), to serve as acting CEO until a replacement is found.
According to Nvidia's announcement on 12 Nov 2025 GMT+7, the board voted to remove Jensen Huang as co-founder and CEO due to reports of extramarital relationships with two women, one of whom is a Chinese businesswoman alleged by U.S. authorities to have ties to Chinese intelligence agencies.
Colette Kress has been a senior executive at Nvidia for over 13 years and was one of the key figures behind Nvidia's rise as an AI powerhouse. She has earned the trust of both Jensen Huang and the board to take on the acting CEO role.
Colette Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and has continuously held that role to the present day.
Over the years, she has worked closely with Jensen Huang and has been a key executive communicating with investors, regularly reporting quarterly earnings and answering analysts’ questions alongside Huang.
To put it in perspective, when Colette Kress joined Nvidia, the company’s revenue was about $4.13 billion, which has since surged dramatically to $215.9 billion in fiscal 2026, marking Nvidia’s transformation from a graphics chip maker to one of the most influential technology companies in the AI era.
according to her personal LinkedIn profile,Colette Kress accumulated extensive financial experience at leading U.S. technology companies.She began her career working in finance at Texas Instruments for eight years before joining Microsoft from 1997 to 2010 as Corporate Vice President.
While at Microsoft, she rose to become CFO of the Server and Tools business in 2006, responsible for financial strategy, planning, and reporting for that unit.
In 2010, she moved to Cisco as Senior Vice President and CFO of Business Technology and Operations Finance, overseeing financial strategy and business development.
She worked at Cisco until 2013 before moving to Nvidia, a pivotal career shift.
Nvidia’s annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) states that Colette Kress holds a bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.
Wealth
Furthermore, Nvidia executives do not have individual employment contracts, severance agreements, or special benefits related to changes in corporate control (Change-in-Control Agreements).
However, Nvidia’s prior regulatory filings reveal that Colette Kress’s compensation includes Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), including stock rights granted in March 2026 that vest over a four-year schedule.
Colette Kress is among the wealthiest female executives in the U.S., ranked 32nd on Forbes’ 2026 list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women.
Her wealth largely stems from Nvidia stock holdings valued at about $750 million as of the market close on Wednesday, 11 Nov 2025 GMT+7.
However, her stock value has declined from over $1 billion during Nvidia’s peak stock price in October.
Her appointment as acting CEO marks another major milestone in Colette Kress’s career, following her 13+ years managing Nvidia’s finances and contributing to the company’s growth from a graphics chip maker to a leading AI industry tech firm.
Source: Nvidia [
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