Colette Kress Takes Over as Nvidia's Interim CEO

Nvidia's board of directors has appointed Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO following the departure of founder Jensen Huang. The company has also appointed Harvey Jones as its first independent chairman of the board, establishing a separate leadership role for the first time in its history.

Colette assumed the interim CEO position on November 12, following Jensen's resignation. She will continue serving as Nvidia's executive vice president and CFO while the company searches for a permanent chief executive.

The board has initiated the process of identifying Jensen's successor, with both internal and external candidates under consideration. Nvidia plans to preserve its existing business strategy and maintain operational stability throughout the leadership transition.

Key Highlights:

• Nvidia appointed CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO following Jensen Huang's resignation
• Harvey Jones became the company's first separate board chairman as Nvidia searches for a permanent CEO
• Jensen's departure has raised concerns among employees and investors over the company's leadership transition

Colette was appointed to Nvidia's finance team in September 2013. In her time, the company grew to be one of the world's biggest companies for computing solutions for artificial intelligence.

Prior to joining Nvidia, she worked for close to 25 years at technology firms such as Cisco and Microsoft in a variety of financial positions.

New board chairman Harvey Jones has more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry and venture capital. He was the CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys in the past.

He said the management team plans to abide by the obligations to customers and carry out the company's technology plans "without any disruption.

Colette said she plans to develop the business model that Huang laid the groundwork for and continue to push for enhanced accelerated computing and artificial intelligence. Some Nvidia employees have appealed to the board to reconsider Jensen's resignation.

One of the company's engineers posted an internal message that garnered more than 1,600 comments, WIRED reports. The vast majority of those who had been involved in the discussion agreed with the Nvidia founder's idea of getting him back.

Other workers asked for more information about the resignation. Even in the wake of the revelations about his personal life, some were calling for a second chance for Jensen, given his long history of service to Nvidia.

Investors in Nvidia are re-evaluating their investments in the company amidst leadership turmoil as its shares dropped. Even though CNBC host Jim Cramer was bullish on the company's business prospects, he told shareholders to focus on preserving capital.

Jim says this abrupt switch raises questions for investors. He is still optimistic, however, about the ability of Nvidia's interim management.