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Person · Evidence-based referenceReviewed November 12, 2026

Colette M. Kress

Interim chief executive and chief financial officer of Nvidia since November 12, 2026; previously a senior financial executive at Texas Instruments, Microsoft and Cisco.

Career before Nvidia

Colette M. Kress (born circa 1967) earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University. Her early financial career began at Texas Instruments, where she worked for approximately eight years. She moved to Microsoft in 1997 and stayed until 2010. Beginning in 2006 she served as chief financial officer of Microsoft's Server and Tools division, overseeing finance, business planning and development within its enterprise software business.

From 2010 to September 2013, Kress was senior vice president and finance chief for Cisco's Business Technology and Operations Finance organization, covering financial strategy, reporting, planning and business development across engineering and operations. SEC — Nvidia 2026 Form 10-K · Nvidia — 2013 appointment announcement.

Nvidia: CFO from 2013, interim CEO in 2026

Nvidia appointed Kress executive vice president and CFO on September 11, 2013, as its principal financial officer. She reported directly to founder Jensen Huang and led company financial planning, financial reporting, capital allocation and investor communication during the company's expansion into AI computing, data centers and networking.

Following Huang's resignation effective November 12, 2026, Nvidia's board named Kress interim CEO, while she retained her CFO role. The board announced a search for a permanent successor and elected Harvey C. Jones its first board chair. The dual interim roles mean her responsibility for both corporate leadership and finance is unusually direct during a period of federal regulatory and national-security scrutiny. Nvidia original CEO-transition notice.

Company SEC filings and announcements show Kress is a named reporting and certification officer. For example, she signed Nvidia's September 2026 Form 8-K relating to a proposed corporate acquisition. September 2026 SEC filing.

Equity, compensation and disclosed trading

Nvidia's 2026 proxy statement lists 4,443,523 shares beneficially owned by Kress as of the proxy's March 23, 2026 measurement date, including indirect interests as defined by SEC ownership rules. The same filing reports approximately $63.9 million in stock-award value realized on vesting in fiscal 2026; this measures the value on vesting, rather than cash proceeds received. Nvidia 2026 proxy — ownership and compensation.

Her April 10, 2026 termination of a 500,000-share Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement is expressly recorded in Nvidia's quarterly report. The company reports that no shares were sold under that particular plan before termination. A separate June 16, 2026 plan was cited in the September 2026 Form 4 for later share dispositions. These are dated regulatory disclosures and should be considered against the actual trading-plan filings, not interpreted without their terms. April 2026 quarterly report · September 2026 SEC Form 4.

Why Kress matters to the chip-policy and corporate-finance investigation

As Nvidia's finance chief during the administration's 2025–2026 semiconductor export changes, Kress occupied a central corporate position in accounting for revenue, investments, acquisitions, regulatory risks and major political commitments of the company. Nvidia's corporate records separately document an inaugural contribution, a reported White House ballroom pledge and the potential commercial value of exports to China and UAE cloud providers. Those are corporate-level relationships; a personal political donation or government advisory appointment by Kress has not been identified in the reviewed sources.

In November 2026 Nvidia and government officials faced intensified questions about Megaspeed, alleged chip diversion, Alice Huang and national-security warnings. Kress's new appointment puts responsibility for future corporate disclosures and financial controls in her office. The board review and Commerce export investigations remain separate legal proceedings. Official leadership notice · Nvidia's full dossier.

Historical and current connections

Texas Instruments → Microsoft → Cisco → NvidiaCareer progression from approximately 1989 through her 2013 CFO appointment; extensive technology finance experienceSEC biography ↗
Jensen Huang → KressHuang hired her as CFO in 2013; she became interim CEO after his 2026 resignationJensen Huang →
Kress → Tim Teter / Nvidia finance and legal functionsBoth named among Nvidia executive officers in the February 2026 SEC report; different legal and reporting responsibilitiesNvidia →
Cisco institutional overlap with Jeffrey I. KesslerKress previously worked in Cisco finance; Kessler reported Cisco as a law-firm client in a pre-2019 disclosure. Their dates, assignments and personal acquaintance have not been established as overlappingJeffrey Kessler →
Kress → Nvidia shareholders / regulatorsCFO named in company Form 10-K and Form 4 disclosures; equity interest and financial-reporting role have dated original recordsSEC proxy ↗

Timeline

  1. Texas Instruments

    Approximately eight years in corporate finance.

  2. Microsoft

    Financial leadership, including Server and Tools division CFO from 2006.

  3. Cisco

    Senior vice president and CFO of Business Technology and Operations Finance.

  4. Nvidia appointment

    Board appoints Kress EVP/CFO and principal financial officer.

  5. Ownership snapshot

    Nvidia proxy measurement date for more than 4.4 million beneficially owned shares.

  6. Trading plan terminated

    Terminates 500,000-share plan without any sales under that plan.

  7. Interim CEO

    Appointed while remaining CFO following Huang's resignation.

Source records

  1. Nvidia — 2013 CFO appointment
  2. Nvidia — Kress corporate biography
  3. SEC — fiscal 2026 annual filing and executive biographies
  4. Nvidia — November 12, 2026 leadership transition
  5. SEC — May 2026 proxy, Kress equity and compensation
  6. SEC — April 2026 quarterly report on terminated sales plan
  7. SEC — September 2026 Kress Form 4
  8. SEC — September 2026 executive-signed Form 8-K
  9. ProPublica — 2019 Kessler clients, including Cisco