Colette Kress: The Interim Nvidia CEO Replacing Jensen Huang, and Her Road to the Top

A long career at Nvidia

Kress joined Nvidia in 2013 as chief financial officer. Before that, she worked at Cisco and Microsoft, and earned a finance degree from the University of Arizona and an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.

She worked closely with Huang as Nvidia moved beyond graphics processors for video games and became central to the artificial intelligence boom. As interim chief executive, she will keep her finance role.

A close working relationship

Huang interviewed 22 candidates before selecting Kress as chief financial officer. Her young sons, who were avid gamers, encouraged her to take the Nvidia job.

China sales and investor ties

Kress raised concerns about the financial effects of U.S. policies restricting Nvidia sales to China. On a call with financial analysts in 2023, she said China represented 20 to 25 percent of Nvidia’s data center revenue.

She has also warned that the restrictions could strengthen Nvidia’s competitors in China. As finance chief, she regularly communicated with Wall Street and investors, delivering upbeat messages on quarterly earnings calls as revenue and the stock price climbed.

Revenue and personal holdings

Nvidia’s sales increased from $4.28 billion in 2013 to $215.9 billion in its most recent fiscal year. Kress’s investor-facing role coincided with that sharp expansion. Nvidia’s most recent annual report listed Kress as owning roughly 4.44 million shares, valued at about $772 million.