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Colette Kress
American business executive (born 1967)
Colette Marie Kress (born 1967) is an American business executive. She has been the interim chief executive officer (CEO) of Nvidia since November 12, 2026. Kress became CEO following the resignation of former CEO and Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang.
She had previously worked at Texas Instruments, before serving as chief financial officer (CFO) of Cisco's Business Technology and Operations Finance Section and CFO at Microsoft's Server and Tools Division. Kress became executive vice president and CFO of Nvidia in 2013.
Kress has been a billionaire since July 2025, based on her equity in Nvidia.
Education
Kress earned a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the Cox School of Business of Southern Methodist University.
Career
Before joining Nvidia, Kress first worked in the finance department of Texas Instruments, before becoming CFO of Microsoft's Server and Tools Division and later of Cisco's Business Technology and Operations Finance Section.
Kress joined Nvidia as CFO after a two-year search in September 2013, where she was seen as unlikely to cause a significant change in the company's core business of selling graphics chips, but was seen as a potential support for the expansion to tablets and computers. At that point, Nvidia was the smallest company she had worked for.
In 2018, during the Bank of America Global Tech Conference, Kress said that despite reduction in cryptocurrency mining demands for Nvidia GPUs, other industries like autonomous vehicles and gaming would drive demand.
Kress has been seen as instrumental in Nvidia's rapid rise to prominence during the AI boom. As the company has rapidly grown, she has led the digitization effort of manual processes. She has frequently discussed the importance of AI and its growth.
She has helped direct Nvidia's many investments in other companies, and spoke publicly about the discussions between OpenAI and Nvidia for investments. She has also worked on Nvidia's "matchmaking" efforts to support customers for other needs such as data center space.
On November 12, 2026, Kress was announced as the new interim CEO of Nvidia after the resignation of Jensen Huang, following controversies around his extramarital affairs while CEO. Kress retained her position as CFO and Executive VP while serving as interim CEO. Before Jensen's ouster, he had belittled Kress, calling her "a deer in the headlights."
Wealth and recognition
She was first ranked as a billionaire in July 2025, based on her equity in Nvidia, making her one of the few CFOs to become billionaires.
She was a 2024 winner of The New Era in Business from Chief, a women's networking organization. She was ranked as #49 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list in 2026. She was #37 on Forbes's Most Powerful Women list in 2025 and #32 on Forbes's Richest Self-Made Women list in 2026. She was included in the MarketWatch 50 in 2023 as an AI Player.
Personal life
Kress is married to David Kress, a retired Microsoft business operations manager. The couple has two sons.