Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO; CFO Colette Kress named interim chief

Technology

Nvidia said on Nov. 12 that its board had accepted founder Jensen Huang’s resignation as president, chief executive and a director on Nov. 11, effective immediately. Colette Kress, the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, has agreed to serve as interim chief executive and will keep her finance role until a permanent successor is named.

The board said it is starting a search for a permanent CEO and will consider internal and external candidates. It also appointed director Harvey C. Jones as the board’s first chair. Nvidia confirmed the changes in a Form 8-K filed the same day with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” Jones said in the company’s news release. “The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.”

Kress has been Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer since she joined the company in September 2013, the release said. Before that, it said, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at technology companies including Cisco and Microsoft. The 8-K listed her age as 59.

The release described Jones as an entrepreneur, technology executive and active venture investor for more than 30 years, including service as chief executive and executive chairman of Synopsys. The 8-K said Jones, 73, has been an Nvidia director since 1993 and has been managing partner of Square Wave Ventures, a private family office, since 2004. Nvidia’s 2026 proxy statement said the board then had an independent lead director rather than a chairperson, and named Stephen C. Neal in that role.

“NVIDIA’s strength has always come from its people, and together with our leadership team, I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years,” Kress said in the release. The company also said Huang’s contributions to Nvidia are “profound,” and that the board and the company thank him for his “immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.”

Nvidia said it will still report fiscal 2027 third-quarter results on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at approximately 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time, as previously scheduled, followed by its earnings call at 2 p.m. Pacific Time — 5:20 a.m. and 6 a.m. Singapore time (UTC+8) on Nov. 18.

The announcement came days after Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation. In a Nov. 8 statement, the board said it was acting in light of recent reporting that Huang had been “the target of a foreign intelligence effort.” A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel, would oversee the inquiry, it said, and it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.” In an email to employees published the same day, Huang said he had been unfaithful to his wife, apologized, and said he would “cooperate fully” with the investigation. SharpPost reported the statements at the time.

CNBC reported then that the inquiry concerned Huang’s relationship with a businesswoman. Citing The New York Times and the Financial Times, CNBC said U.S. intelligence agencies had expressed concern that she had been passing information to Beijing. SharpPost previously reported on Megaspeed, a Singapore cloud company named in that coverage.

On Nov. 10, the independent members of the board said in a statement that they had retained Joon H. Kim, a former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and his firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, to conduct the investigation announced on Sunday.

Semafor reported on Nov. 11 that it had confirmed the board was preparing to oust Huang as soon as Wednesday, and, citing people familiar with the matter, that directors were scheduled to meet Wednesday evening. Some members favored appointing Kress as interim CEO if Huang were removed, the report said. Semafor said the preparations followed media reports of a second extramarital affair.