Meet Colette Kress: The CFO Replacing Nvidia's Jensen Huang

Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), President, and member of Nvidia's Board of Directors, effective immediately, the company announced. The Taiwanese-American tech executive has quit the position 33 years after he founded the chipmaker. Huang was caught in the eye of the storm over the past week, with allegations of misconduct and falling prey to an espionage scandal surfaced. Nvidia's Board of Directors has appointed the company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as the interim CEO, while also launching the search for the next chief executive. On top of this, the tech giant has also appointed its first Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Colette Kress Takes Charge as Interim CEO Effective Immediately

In a press release on Thursday, Nvidia's Board of Directors announced that Huang has tendered his resignation from all positions he held at the chipmaker, including CEO and President, while also vacating his seat on Nvidia's Board of Directors. The transition is effective immediately. The Board has appointed Colette Kress as the Interim CEO of Nvidia, while launching a hunt for the next full-time CEO. The new Nvidia interim CEO will continue to serve in her current roles, with additional charge of the company's day-to-day management.

Kress joined Nvidia 13 years ago, in September 2013, as the Executive Vice President and CFO. Before joining Nvidia, she served as Cisco's Senior Vice President and CFO, Business Technology and Operations Finance, from November 2010 to September 2013. Kress also served as the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft for about five years, from April 2006 to November 2010. She earned her Master's in Business Administration (MBA) in Finance from SMU Cox School of Business, graduating in 1996.

Apart from this, Nvidia's Board of Directors has appointed its “first-ever” Chairman. Harvey C. Jones has been an entrepreneur, technology executive, and an active venture investor with a combined experience of 30 years. Jones has also served as the CEO and Executive Chairman of Synopsys. On the appointment of the new interim CEO, Jones 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.”

Nvidia's Next Full-Time CEO Race

The Board of Directors of Nvidia has started looking for a new full-time CEO. According to a Bloomberg report, the Board is considering appointing Johny Srouji, Apple's Senior Vice President, Hardware Technology, for the position.

Srouji has been associated with Apple for more than 18 years, joining the iPhone maker in March 2008 as the Senior Director, Handheld Chips and VLSI. He is popularly regarded as the chief architect of the custom-designed Apple Silicon chips, now used in Macs, iPhone models, iPad models, and other Apple products. His experience in designing chips for Apple could be useful for Nvidia, which has been supplying the server-grade GPUs to AI data centres.

Jensen Huang's Exit and Controversy

Nvidia's management overhaul comes after Nvidia launched an investigation into allegations that Huang could have revealed the company's trade secrets and other information about Nvidia's GPU chip design and technology after falling prey to a honey-trapping incident by an alleged Chinese spy.

Later, reports of Huang inappropriate relations with another company executive also surfaced online. Recently, more reports allege that the former Nvidia executive had a relationship with another unnamed Nvidia employee, making this the third such allegation.