Colette Kress is one of the most consequential figures in Silicon Valley — and, as of 12 November 2026, she is suddenly the most watched. After Jensen Huang, the founder who propelled NVIDIA to become one of the world's most valuable companies, resigned as chief executive, Colette Kress was appointed interim CEO by the board. She will also continue to serve in her role as executive vice president and CFO until NVIDIA finds a permanent CEO. Few corporate transitions have been this sudden — or this consequential.
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Full name
Colette M. Kress
Born
1967, United States (age 58–59 as of November 2026)
Nationality
American
Education
BS Finance, University of Arizona; MBA, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business
Occupation
Executive Vice President, CFO & Interim CEO, NVIDIA
At NVIDIA since
September 2013
Husband
David Kress
Children
Two sons: David Jr. and Matthew
Residence
Saratoga, California
Net worth
~$1–$1.2 billion (Forbes/MarketScreener, 2026)
Colette Kress was born in 1967 in the United States. She has never spoken publicly about her parents or upbringing, keeping that part of her life firmly private.
Kress earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business. Those two qualifications set her on a path into corporate finance at a time when the technology industry was just beginning its explosive growth.
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Kress began her career at Texas Instruments, where she spent eight years in various finance roles before moving to Microsoft in 1997. Over 13 years at Microsoft, she rose through the ranks, eventually spending four years as the Chief Financial Officer of the Server and Tools Division — a business unit generating billions in annual revenue.
She moved to Cisco in 2010 as senior vice president and chief financial officer of its Business Technology and Operations Finance organisation, where she was responsible for financial strategy and business development.
Kress joined NVIDIA in 2013 after nearly 25 years in finance roles at Cisco, Microsoft and other tech companies. She told Fortune that NVIDIA was the smallest company she had worked for when she started there in 2013. That would not be true for long.
Kress helped guide NVIDIA's financial success, transforming it from a video game company into the AI juggernaut it is today. In 2022, NVIDIA was worth less than $400 billion. By 2024, it had crossed $3 trillion in market value. In 2025 and 2026, fuelled by explosive demand for AI infrastructure, NVIDIA surpassed the $5 trillion mark. Colette shared:
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As chief financial officer, Kress became a familiar voice on Wall Street during NVIDIA's quarterly earnings calls, discussing revenue growth, profit margins, demand for AI chips and the company's financial outlook.
She helped direct NVIDIA's many investments in other companies and spoke publicly about discussions between OpenAI and NVIDIA. She also worked on NVIDIA's "matchmaking" efforts to support customers for other needs such as data centre space.
Kress has spoken candidly about the challenge of scaling finance operations as the company grew. As NVIDIA's headcount grew from roughly 8,000 employees when Kress joined to more than 40,000 today, she emphasised the importance of surrounding herself with people who can teach her and help lead the company forward.
"Some of the things learned since childhood is to surround yourself with people that you can learn from; people that can help lead."
Colette Kress is married to David Kress, a former Microsoft executive who spent approximately three decades working at the technology company. David Kress started in the Microsoft mailroom in 1987 and retired after three decades there, according to the University of Florida's athletics website.
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The couple has two sons, David Kress Jr. and Matthew Kress, and has built a family life in California's Silicon Valley region. Their younger son, Matthew Kress, plays golf for the Florida Gators.
Kress's two sons were familiar with NVIDIA chips from their video games, and their endorsement reportedly influenced her decision to join the company in 2013. It is a detail that has since become something of Silicon Valley lore.
The Kress family keeps a deliberately low profile. Kress's LinkedIn profile lists her location as Saratoga, California, a wealthy city 16 miles south of NVIDIA's Santa Clara headquarters. Colette and David Kress have generally maintained a private family life in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Yes — and comfortably so. In June 2026, Forbes estimated Kress's net worth at $1.2 billion, ranking her among America's richest self-made women. MarketScreener placed her net worth at approximately $977 million as of 30 October 2026, while the 311 Private Wealth Index estimated a range of $0.8 billion to $1.2 billion.
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She was first ranked as a billionaire on 29 July 2025, making her one of the few CFOs in history to reach that threshold.
Her wealth breaks down as follows:
Kress's fortune is almost entirely the product of NVIDIA stock awards accumulated over 13 years, with no significant publicly disclosed outside investments or real estate holdings.
This is the biggest story in tech right now. On 12 November 2026, the NVIDIA board of directors announced that Jensen Huang had resigned as president, chief executive officer, and member of the board, effective immediately.
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Colette Kress agreed to serve as interim chief executive officer and will continue to serve as executive vice president and chief financial officer until a permanent successor is named. She said:
Newly appointed NVIDIA board chair Harvey Jones said in a statement: "Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position."
NVIDIA has not announced a succession plan and said the board is considering both internal and external candidates. Analysts suggest Kress will likely remain in the interim role for about a year.
Kress has ranked on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list for the past three years as NVIDIA's influence soared. She was ranked No. 49 on the 2026 edition of that list — a placing likely to shift dramatically in the year ahead.
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1. What is Colette Kress's net worth? Forbes estimated her net worth at $1.2 billion in June 2026, with other sources placing the figure between $977 million and $1.2 billion, depending on NVIDIA's share price at the time of calculation.
2. Is Colette Kress a billionaire? Yes. She has been a billionaire since July 2025. Her wealth is derived almost entirely from NVIDIA stock awards.
3. Who is Colette Kress's husband? Colette Kress is married to David Kress, a retired Microsoft executive. They have two sons, David Jr. and Matthew, and the family lives in Saratoga, California.
4. Does Colette Kress have children? Yes. Colette and David Kress are parents to two sons, David Kress Jr. and Matthew Kress.
5. What is Colette Kress's ethnicity? Kress has not publicly discussed her ethnicity. Her background has not been confirmed in any verified source, and no reliable reporting has addressed it directly.
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6. Why did Colette Kress become NVIDIA's interim CEO? The NVIDIA board of directors announced that co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO, and member of the board, effective immediately, after reports that he had affairs with both an alleged Chinese spy and one of his direct reports at NVIDIA. Kress stepped in as the most senior and trusted executive available.
7. Where did Colette Kress work before NVIDIA? Prior to joining NVIDIA, Kress spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at leading technology companies, including Cisco, Microsoft, and Texas Instruments.
8. Did Colette Kress want to become a CEO? In a rare interview in 2022, Kress told Fortune that becoming a C-suite leader was never necessarily her career goal: "I think honestly, throughout my career, I was just always fascinated by somebody else's role."
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Source: TUKO.co.ke
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