Source: NVIDIA Newsroom releases published November 10 and November 12, 2026, and BBC News reporting published November 12, 2026.
Kress has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since September 2013 after nearly 25 years in corporate finance at Cisco and Microsoft. "Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position," said newly appointed Chair Harvey C. Jones, a 30-year technology executive and former CEO and Executive Chairman of Synopsys. In her own statement, Kress pledged to build on "the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years" while keeping execution focused on customers, partners, developers, and shareholders.
According to BBC News, the leadership crisis accelerated after New York Times reporting revealed two alleged extramarital relationships. The first involved Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang (also known as Huang Le), a former top executive between March and November 2023 at Singapore-based data center operator Megaspeed, which faces Singaporean investigation over alleged circumvention of U.S. chip export controls. On November 11, media reports detailed a second alleged relationship involving Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell, who reported directly to Huang. Earlier in the week, Huang apologized for being "unfaithful" to his wife Lori Huang of 40 years.
The revelations drew immediate scrutiny from Capitol Hill and federal investigators. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons, joined by Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, demanded that Huang brief lawmakers, with one Senate staff member telling the BBC a subpoena could follow if he refuses to appear voluntarily. President Donald Trump told reporters the FBI is investigating the matter and noted Huang told him he had been unaware of espionage concerns. China rejected the spying allegations as "entirely groundless," while the BBC estimated Huang's personal net worth at $155 billion (£115 billion) and noted the week's equity sell-off marked Nvidia's steepest five-day drop since its initial public offering 27 years ago.
Questions around permanent succession highlight several internal veterans alongside external possibilities. BBC named Nvidia co-founder and longtime engineering leader Chris Malachowsky as well as high-performance computing chief Ian Buck, who helped pioneer GPU computing for AI workloads. Two of Huang's children, Madison and Spencer, and son-in-law Nico Caprez also hold senior roles inside the firm, though observers characterized them as relatively junior for the chief executive post. Stephen Witt, author of the Huang biography Thinking Machine, described the departing founder as "a tech visionary of the likes of Steve Jobs."
Limits: Nvidia's official transition announcement did not cite allegations of personal misconduct as the formal reason for departure, Attorney General Todd Blanche stressed the Justice Department has reached no conclusions, Huang has not confirmed attendance for the November 18 congressional briefing, and neither Powell nor Huang's personal representative commented to the BBC.