Former NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang described Colette Kress, the company’s CFO who has now replaced him as interim CEO, as “a deer in headlights” during a presentation earlier this summer, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an anonymous source.
Huang made the comment during a meeting with Nvidia’s finance team about the company’s plans to provide guarantees worth billions of dollars to data center operators who couldn’t afford to buy its chips up front, according to the report.
He also reportedly said that Kress was a person who could not help him guide his strategy or make decisions.
Kress has been with Nvidia for over 13 years now, having previously served as Executive Vice President and CFO of Cisco’s Business Technology Operations Finance division. The report said she questioned Nvidia’s program-focused credit deals involving Huang’s son-in-law, Nico Caprez, and wanted to know how to decide which deals are beneficial, how to evaluate collateral and determine returns.
Earlier in the year, she scaled back Nvidia’s commitment to OpenAI’s ambitious data center project in Ohio. The company was in talks to extend $250 billion in credit to OpenAI, but ultimately committed $105 billion.
Huang resigned Thursday after reports of two extramarital affairs, including one with the company’s vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell. The company is also investigating a possible Chinese espionage plot.
After his resignation, Reuters reported that he was carrying on a third affair with another employee. Nvidia is currently looking for a permanent CEO to replace Huang, who held the top job for more than 33 years.
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