Some Nvidia directors reportedly favor CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO

A Semafor report says part of Nvidia's board sees its longtime finance chief as the stopgap leader if one is needed

Some Nvidia directors reportedly favor chief financial officer Colette Kress to serve as interim CEO, according to a report from Semafor.

For most companies, succession chatter is routine. For Nvidia, it is something closer to a seismic event. Jensen Huang has been the only CEO the company has ever had since its founding in 1993.

What the report says

Semafor’s reporting points to a specific preference among some board members, not the full board. Kress is the name reportedly drawing support as a potential interim chief.

Nothing in the report indicates that a leadership change has been decided. Nvidia has not announced any transition, and Huang has not been reported as stepping aside.

Who is Colette Kress

Kress has served as Nvidia’s executive vice president and CFO since September 2013. That gives her more than a decade inside the company’s most consequential stretch.

Her tenure covers Nvidia’s shift from a company best known for gaming graphics cards to the dominant supplier of chips for artificial intelligence. She has been the executive explaining those numbers to Wall Street, quarter after quarter.