SANTA CLARA — In a stunning leadership transition that has sent ripples through the global technology sector, NVIDIA announced on Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Collette Kress will take over as interim Chief Executive Officer.

The abrupt change follows the NVIDIA board’s decision to remove co-founder Jensen Huang from the helm. According to company disclosures, Huang’s departure was prompted by controversies surrounding two personal relationships, including one involving a woman suspected of having ties to foreign intelligence.

With this appointment, Kress steps out of the financial wing and into the driver’s seat of the world’s foremost architect of advanced AI processors and high-performance supercomputing data centers.

A Steady Hand Since 2013

Kress is hardly a newcomer to the corporate powerhouse. She joined NVIDIA in September 2013 as Senior Vice President and CFO, quickly becoming a familiar face to investors as a regular fixture alongside Huang during quarterly earnings conference calls.

Under her fiscal guidance, NVIDIA experienced astronomical financial expansion. When she first came aboard, the company’s annual revenue stood at $4.13 billion. By fiscal year 2026, that figure had skyrocketed to an eye-watering $2159 billion, fueled largely by the artificial intelligence boom.

Deep Silicon Valley Roots

Before steering NVIDIA’s financial strategy, Kress built a formidable two-decade-plus resume across several tech giants. Her career includes an eight-year tenure at Texas Instruments and a thirteen-year run at Microsoft starting in 1997. At Microsoft, she ascended to CFO of the Server and Tools division by 2006, overseeing its financial planning and reporting.

In 2010, she transitioned to Cisco Systems as Senior Vice President and CFO of the Business Technology and Operations Finance organization, before finally being recruited by NVIDIA in 2013. Reflecting on her arrival, Kress noted in a prior interview with Fortune that NVIDIA was the smallest enterprise she had worked for at the time of her hiring.

Kress holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Compensation and Staggering Wealth

In line with NVIDIA’s corporate governance model, executives operate under an "at-will" employment structure without individual employment agreements, severance packages, or change-in-control contracts. Her compensation package heavily features Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), including grants scheduled to vest progressively over a four-year window beginning in early 2026.

Driven by NVIDIA's historic market valuation over the past decade, Kress has accumulated vast personal wealth. Forbes ranked her 32nd on its list of America’s richest self-made women for 2026. Though down from a peak valuation exceeding $1 billion during last month's stock highs, her NVIDIA equity holdings were valued at approximately $750 million as of this week’s market close.

As Kress assumes interim control, Wall Street and the tech industry will closely watch how the seasoned financial architect navigates NVIDIA through its next chapter.

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