The elevation of Colette Kress, (Nvidia's) finance chief, to the role of interim chief executive at the AI chip giant highlights a key part of the CFO role at big companies: serving as temporary CEOs in an emergency.
Kress took the reins Thursday, following the resignation of Jensen Huang following revelations of two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy. Kress, who will continue to serve as CFO, joined Nvidia in 2013 after holding senior finance roles at Cisco, Microsoft and Texas Instruments. During her tenure, she has overseen an aggressive expansion of the company's balance sheet. Nvidia's board has begun searching for a new CEO.
Many public companies with no immediate successor "would view the CFO as an automatic interim, particularly in a crisis situation," said Peter Crist, chairman of executive-recruitment firm Crist Kolder Associates, who pointed to finance chiefs' knowledge of investors.
Three sitting CFOs at S&P 500 companies-Intel's David Zinsner, Lululemon's Meghan Frank and PayPal's Jamie Miller-have served as interim CEOs at their current companies, according to Equilar, a data provider. All three returned to their prior roles after a successor was hired.
Intel's Zinsner took on the additional role of co-CEO in December 2024, alongside client-computing executive Michelle Johnston Holthaus, following the abrupt resignation of former CEO Pat Gelsinger. Intel in March 2025 named Lip-Bu Tan as chief executive. Zinsner and Johnson Holthaus, who has since left the company, relinquished their interim titles after Tan came on board.
Lululemon's CFO added the title of interim co-CEO in January, serving alongside president and chief commercial officer André Maestrini, after then-CEO Calvin McDonald resigned under pressure from investors after sales faltered. The athleticwear maker's new CEO, Heidi O'Neill, took over in September, and Frank and Maestrini shed the interim CEO titles.
And PayPal's finance chief took on the interim CEO title for a month in February, after the company's board replaced then-CEO Alex Chriss with former HP CEO Enrique Lores, citing the company's unsatisfactory pace of change. Miller, who also serves as chief operating officer, held the interim CEO title for a transitional period until Lores started his role.
Dive Deeper
-- Before His Ouster, Jensen Huang Belittled the Executive Replacing Him
-- Jensen Huang's Downfall Is a Sign of Silicon Valley's Power Drain
-- They Were the Indispensable CEOs-Until They Weren't
-- Nvidia Shareholders Won't Miss Jensen Huang for Long
-- Democrats Vie to Lead Nvidia Probes Next Year
-- A Timeline of the Scandals That Brought Down Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang
-- Nvidia's Meteoric Rise, in One Chart
-- Podcast: Where Does Nvidia Go From Here?
The Day Ahead
Economic Indicators
The BLS releases the producer-price index for October.
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What Else Matters to CFOs
The Federal Reserve doesn't plan to make a decision on interest rates when its rate-setting committee convenes in October of next year, according to a tentative schedule released Thursday.
The central bank's proposed schedule calls for eight meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee in 2027, as is typical, but notes that the meeting slated for late October will not include a policy decision.
Since taking the helm last summer, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh has been floating the idea of having fewer meetings, which would mark a significant shift in the central bank's operations.
-- Fed's Williams Says Still Work to Do to Get Monetary Policy to Right Place
Other headlines
-- Home Sales in October Plummet to 16-Year Low
-- Cravath Employee Is Charged With Insider Trading Using Confidential Deal Information
-- Another Winner From the Midterms: Crusaders Against Insurance Companies
-- AI Bots Are Using Credit Cards. Banks Are Racing to Keep Up.
-- Microsoft Struggles to Fix Widespread Outage
-- Kraft Heinz Has a Comeback Plan: Cheesy Ramen and High-Protein Jell-O
-- Heard on the Street: CVS Breakup Won't Satisfy Washington. It Could Still Work for Wall Street.
-- China's Moonshot AI Restructures to Pave Way for IPO
Earnings wrapup
-- Cartier Parent Richemont Post Sales Rise Despite Uncertain Market Backdrop
-- Spain's ACS Expects Data-Center Build-Out to Boost Revenue, Profit Through 2030
-- Nebius Lowers Outlook, Addresses Worries Over Financing AI Buildout
-- Yeti Cuts Year Outlook on Consumer Caution
For more earnings news, click here.
Quotable
"The best thing I could tell any type of CFO coming in: Be careful how much time you spend thinking about the trends that you've seen in the past and have a good understanding of how quickly things could move going forward."Colette Kress, who was named interim chief executive of Nvidia on Thursday, in an interview with the Journal in 2016. Kress said she was drawn to Nvidia because of Huang, whom she described as a visionary, and a culture she described as "essentially ego-less."
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CFO Moves
Klarna Group, the London-based digital banking payments company, named Chris Koegel as CFO, effective Jan. 1. Koegel was most recently head of corporate finance and investor relations at Robinhood Markets. He succeeds Niclas Neglén, who will remain as CFO until the end of the year.