According to Fortune, the saga surrounding Jensen Huang, his alleged extramarital affairs, and a so-called Chinese spy has not necessarily come to an end, but it has at least paused for now. Jensen Huang resigned from his position as CEO of NVIDIA this morning. The chip manufacturer, which he co-founded, is at the heart of the global artificial intelligence industry and has also made him a billionaire worth over $140 billion. With NVIDIA's stock price falling and the company in urgent need of stabilizing its situation, the person who took over is Colette Kress, the company's chief financial officer who has been in that role for many years.

Kress joined NVIDIA in 2013 and has since been a key deputy to the company. In this enterprise, which is almost entirely operated by a single individual, she holds power that is nearly at the upper limit attainable by any executive. (It is reported that Jensen Huang once had as many as 60 direct subordinates.) Before joining NVIDIA, she held senior financial positions at Cisco and Microsoft. Over the past decade, as NVIDIA's stock price soared and its market value once exceeded $5 trillion, Kress has been an important representative of the company to Wall Street.

Today, she will take on the role of NVIDIA's interim CEO. The company's board of directors met on Wednesday evening and decided that Kress would take over during the transition period, while also making long-term arrangements.

NVIDIA's new chairman, Harvey Jones, stated in a statement: "Collette helped NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations, and financial condition. She will be supported by an experienced leadership team that has played a key role in implementing NVIDIA's strategy and advancing our technology roadmap."

This appointment also reflects Creese's influence within NVIDIA. As doubts about the future of Jensen Huang continue to arise from the outside world, a core question is: whether there is anyone capable of taking over a company that is so closely tied to him personally. At least in the short term, NVIDIA's board of directors believes that Creese is capable of doing so.

While serving in the temporary role of CEO, she will also continue to hold the position of CFO. In her statement, she mentioned that NVIDIA's "strength always comes from its employees." It is reported that she also told her employees that she has "a deep belief in this company."

As NVIDIA's influence continues to rise, Cresce has been selected for Fortune's "Most Influential Women" list for three consecutive years. In 2026, she ranked 49th—a position that reflects both her significant influence and the limitations of her power under Jensen Huang's firm control. She is also one of the female financial directors at several AI companies, including OpenAI, Meta, and Alphabet. In May of this year, NVIDIA shared Cresce's ranking on the list, stating that it reflected "her strategic role in positioning the company as a leader in AI and accelerating innovation in computing." Her current holdings of NVIDIA shares are valued at approximately $770 million.

It is reported that Cresse told NVIDIA employees that the company will hold a meeting on November 18 to discuss future arrangements, which is the day after the company releases its third-quarter financial report. She has been by Jensen Huang's side throughout the process, witnessing NVIDIA's transformation from a niche enterprise into one of the most important companies in the world, with influence at both the global economic and national security levels. Now, as NVIDIA undergoes its next unexpected transformation, she will take charge of the company.

Emma Hinchliffe

emma.hinchliffe @ fortune.com

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