❯ Jensen Huang leaves NVIDIA’s CEO and board roles as CFO Colette Kress takes interim charge

Founder leaves executive leadershipNVIDIA announced on November 12 that Jensen Huang had resigned as president, chief executive and a director, effective immediately. CFO and executive vice president Colette Kress becomes interim CEO while retaining her finance responsibilities. The board will consider both internal and external candidates for the permanent position.

Board leadership is separated from operationsHuang co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and led it throughout its expansion. The board has also named Harvey C. Jones its first chairman, giving oversight and daily management to different people. Kress has been CFO since 2013, following finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft, and brings experience with NVIDIA’s customers, operations and financing.

Support and scrutiny continueReuters, citing The New York Times, reported that Donald Trump called Huang on November 10 and encouraged him to keep fighting for his job. After the resignation, Trump publicly suggested Tim Cook as a replacement. Separately, Semafor, cited by NDTV Profit reported an ongoing Justice Department antitrust inquiry into NVIDIA, without detailing its scope or indicating plans at that time to bring criminal charges against the company or Huang.

Continuity faces a practical testThe board says operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap will continue, with quarterly results and an earnings call still scheduled for November 17. NVIDIA supplies integrated AI systems spanning chips, servers, networking and software, so reassuring customers about delivery is an immediate priority. The transition will test whether a company built around its founder can preserve decision-making and partner coordination.

▮ SIGNALWith board oversight and executive leadership separated, NVIDIA must turn founder-driven customer coordination and technical decisions into durable team processes; delivery continuity will be tested before a successor’s reputation.