Colette Kress Biography

Colette Kress's education

Kress holds a bachelor of science degree in finance from the University of Arizona and a master of business administration degree from Southern Methodist University, according to Nvidia's annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission 1. The sources reviewed do not give her birthplace or birth date. Fox Business and Reuters put her age at 59 in November 2026 2.

Texas Instruments and Microsoft

She began her career in finance at Texas Instruments, where she spent eight years in various roles 1. In 1997 she joined Microsoft and stayed until 2010. In 2006 she became chief financial officer of the Server and Tools division, which gave her responsibility for its financial strategy, planning and reporting 12.

Cisco

She moved to Cisco in 2010 as senior vice president and CFO of its Business Technology and Operations Finance organisation, where she was responsible for financial strategy and business development. She left for Nvidia three years later 1.

Joining Nvidia

Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Fox Business reported that she joined after her sons told her about the chipmaker's reputation in video games, and that she described Nvidia as the smallest company she had worked for 2. She has said it was her fourth company in a career of about 35 years 4.

Her tenure covers Nvidia's growth from $4.13 billion in revenue in the fiscal year she joined to $215.9 billion in fiscal 2026. She has appeared next to Jensen Huang on the company's quarterly earnings calls 1.

Becoming interim CEO

On 12 November 2026 the board named her interim CEO after Jensen Huang resigned. She said she was committed to building on the foundation Huang created over 33 years, and she remains CFO while the board searches for a permanent chief executive 23.