Meet Colette Kress, Nvidia's new interim CEO as Jensen Huang resigns: Her education, qualification, career and more

Nvidia has appointed its chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim CEO after Jensen Huang stepped down from the top position at the $4 trillion chipmaker. Kress, who joined in 2013, will lead the company while Nvidia looks for a permanent replacement for its co-founder. Kress spent over a decade overseeing finances at Nvidia and has held senior roles at some of the world's largest technology companies including Microsoft and Cisco.

Who is Colette Kress? Her education and qualifications

Kress has a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA in finance from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. On her professional profile at LinkedIn, she claims to have done her MBA from 1994 to 1996.

She developed her career in corporate finance, acquiring experience in financial planning, business operations, reporting and strategic decision-making.


Huang has been the public face of Nvidia's technology and product strategy, while Kress has largely been the behind-the-scenes operator of the company's financials.

Colette Kress’s career before Nvidia

Prior to joining Nvidia as one of its top executives, Kress spent almost 25 years in finance roles within the technology industry.

She began her career at Texas Instruments in a number of finance positions. She then spent 13 years in senior roles in Microsoft’s finance organization.

Her most visible role at Microsoft was chief financial officer of its Server and Tools division. She also held senior roles in corporate planning and finance.

Kress joined Cisco in November 2010 as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Cisco’s Business Technology and Operations Finance organization. She was responsible for financial strategy, planning, reporting and business development across business segments as well as in the areas of engineering and operations.

She stayed at Cisco until September 2013 when she joined Nvidia as executive vise president and chief financial officer.

13 years of work at Nvidia

Kress joined the executive team at Nvidia in September 2013 and has guided its finances through a period of strong growth for the company.

Her responsibilities have included financial planning, reporting, investor relations and corporate finance strategy. The CFO role had become more important with the growing importance of Nvidia in the artificial intelligence industry.

She is taking over as interim CEO at a critical juncture for the company, which she built into one of the world’s most valuable businesses.

According to Reuters, Huang will also leave Nvidia's board, while former Synopsys CEO Harvey Jones has been named the company's first-ever board chairman.

Kress now faces the responsibility of leading Nvidia during the search for a permanent CEO.