Colette Kress, Nvidia's CFO since 2013, is now interim CEO. See her Israel ties, the 6,000-person Israeli team and what the shake-up means for Israel.
Colette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer since 2013, became interim CEO on November 12, 2026, after Jensen Huang resigned. She now leads a company whose Israeli operations, centered in Yokneam (יקנעם) and Tel Aviv, account for 18% of its revenue. In a 2023 interview with Globes, she said her workday begins with meetings with the Israel team.
Updated November 14, 2026
In this article
- Who is Colette Kress?
- Why did Jensen Huang resign?
- What did Kress mean by "my day starts with Israel"?
- How big is Nvidia's Israeli business?
- Why does Mellanox matter to Kress?
- What does the change mean for Israel?
- Who could become the permanent CEO?
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
Who Is Colette Kress, Nvidia's New Interim CEO?
Colette Kress, 59, joined Nvidia in September 2013 as executive vice president and chief financial officer. During her tenure, the company's annual revenue grew from $4.13 billion in fiscal 2014 to $215.9 billion in fiscal 2026, according to Al Jazeera's reporting on the appointment. She keeps her CFO duties while she serves as interim CEO, and Nvidia's board is searching for a permanent leader.
Before Nvidia, she held senior finance roles at Texas Instruments, Microsoft and Cisco. At Microsoft she served as CFO of the server and tools division. She earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University. Forbes ranked her 32nd on its 2026 list of America's richest self-made women. In Hebrew-language coverage, she is now described as מנכ"לית אנבידיה הזמנית, the interim CEO of Nvidia.
| Career stop | Role |
|---|---|
| Texas Instruments | Finance roles, about eight years |
| Microsoft | Finance roles, including CFO of the server and tools division |
| Cisco | SVP and CFO, Business Technology and Operations Finance |
| Nvidia (from September 2013) | Executive vice president and CFO; interim CEO since November 12, 2026 |
Why Did Jensen Huang Resign as Nvidia CEO?
Huang stepped down on Thursday, November 12, after several days of scrutiny over reports about his personal relationships and related national security questions. On the preceding Sunday he admitted being unfaithful to his wife and apologized to his family and to Nvidia employees, per Al Jazeera. Nvidia did not give a reason for his departure. He also left the board, ending 33 years as chief executive.
The board had earlier opened an independent investigation into reports that Huang had been targeted by Chinese intelligence. Its statement says it has no reason to believe national security or Nvidia's secrets were compromised, and Al Jazeera's analyst noted there is no established evidence that Huang knowingly assisted Beijing. These remain reports and allegations, and the inquiry is ongoing. Markets reacted sharply: Nvidia shares fell more than 14% at one point on Thursday before recovering some of the loss.
What Did Kress Mean by "My Day Starts With Israel"?
The line comes from a July 2023 interview with Globes, Israel's business daily, titled "Trillion dollar woman." It was her first interview with Israeli media. She told the paper: "My day starts with Israel meetings, and only then continues to California." The version circulating on social media this week shortens it, and it is nearly three and a half years old, not a new statement.
The explanation is partly practical. Israel is roughly ten hours ahead of California, so the Israeli engineering teams finish their workday as California wakes up. It was also a statement about weight. At the time, Globes reported that about 12% of Nvidia's employees, roughly 3,200 people, worked in Israel across Yokneam, Tel Aviv, Ra'anana, Tel Hai, Kiryat Gat and Beersheva. In the same interview she praised the Mellanox acquisition as one of the best deals she had seen in the industry, and said she was not focused on the stock price when Nvidia crossed the trillion-dollar mark.
Today Nvidia is worth several times that 2023 valuation, so the "trillion-dollar company" label in this story's headline is, if anything, an understatement. What has grown even faster is the Israeli share of the business, covered below.
How Big Is Nvidia's Israeli Business Today?
It is now the largest Israeli entity by revenue. According to Globes' November 12, 2026 analysis of second-quarter reports, operations managed from Israel produced 18% of Nvidia's total revenue, and Nvidia's Israeli unit outsold every listed Israeli company. The workforce has roughly doubled since October 7, 2023, when it stood at just over 3,000.
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Nvidia employees in Israel | About 6,000 | Globes, Nov 12, 2026 |
| Employees on October 7, 2023 | Just over 3,000 | Globes, Nov 12, 2026 |
| Share of global revenue managed from Israel | 18% | Globes, Nov 12, 2026 |
| Nvidia Israel, Q2 2026 sales | $17.5 billion | Globes, Nov 12, 2026 |
| Teva, Q2 2026 revenue | $4.1 billion | Globes, Nov 12, 2026 |
| Elbit Systems, Q2 2026 revenue | $2.2 billion | Globes, Nov 12, 2026 |
| Check Point, Q2 2026 revenue | $674 million | Globes, Nov 12, 2026 |
Why Does Mellanox (מלאנוקס) Matter So Much to Kress?
Mellanox, the Yokneam networking company Nvidia acquired in 2019 for about $6.9 billion, is the engine behind the Israeli operation. It was founded by former Intel employees and led by Eyal Waldman. Nvidia turned its Yokneam and Tel Aviv offices into the group that manages the company's entire communications chip division, which moves data between GPUs and between data centers.
Globes notes that Nvidia handled the deal differently from, say, Google's purchase of Waze. Mellanox stayed an Israeli company, with its intellectual property kept in Israel, its revenue recorded in Israel and higher tax paid there. Michael Kagan, Mellanox's former CTO, became Nvidia's CTO. The flagship NVLink-based AI system is managed from Yokneam, and Kress has cited growth of 2.6 times in annual sales of Spectrum-X, the Ethernet networking product developed in Israel.
For a CFO, that is a concrete ledger story: a business unit that began as a small Israeli lab and now contributes nearly one dollar in five. It helps explain why Kress, who has described Israel as the start of her day, is likely to treat the country as core to Nvidia's financial base.
What Does the Leadership Change Mean for Israel?
For now, the signals point to continuity, but with questions. Globes reported that news of the board's move against Huang caused deep concern among Nvidia's Israeli employees about the company's commitment to the country, because Huang was a staunch supporter of Israel's tech sector. Nvidia's board has said operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap will continue without interruption under the interim leadership.
The biggest physical commitment is the planned Kiryat Tivon (קרית טבעון) campus: about 160,000 square meters on 90 dunams, built to house up to 10,000 employees. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with initial occupancy planned for 2031. Nothing reported so far suggests any change to that plan. Nvidia has also expanded its Beersheva hub.
What Israeli employees, suppliers and local officials are likely to watch:
- Whether the board or Kress restates the Kiryat Tivon campus commitment in public.
- Who is chosen as permanent CEO, and how closely that person is tied to the Israeli operation.
- Whether Michael Kagan, the former Mellanox CTO, takes on a larger role.
- The findings of the independent investigation.
- The Washington debate over advanced chip exports to China, which sits close to Nvidia's biggest decisions.
Who Could Become Nvidia's Permanent CEO?
The board says it is considering both internal and external candidates, and it has not named a shortlist. The names below come from analysts and press reports, not from Nvidia.
| Name | Current role | Why the name is mentioned |
|---|---|---|
| Colette Kress | CFO and interim CEO | Deep company knowledge and Wall Street relationships |
| Ian Buck | VP, hyperscale and high-performance computing | Joined in 2004; helped build Nvidia's AI hardware business |
| Michael Kagan | CTO | Former Mellanox CTO; Globes calls him a potential successor |
| Rene Haas | CEO of Arm | Seven years at Nvidia, rising to VP and general manager |
| Lisa Su | CEO of AMD | Leads a main Nvidia competitor |
| Sanjay Mehrotra | CEO of Micron | Decades in semiconductors; works closely with Nvidia |
| Tim Cook | Apple executive chairman | Suggested by President Trump; no sign of interest |
Harvey Jones, who has sat on Nvidia's board since 1993, became its first-ever board chair after Huang's resignation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Colette Kress the permanent CEO of Nvidia?
No. She is interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement, and she keeps her role as CFO during that time.
Did Colette Kress really say her day starts with Israel?
Yes, but in 2023. In a Globes interview she said her day starts with Israel meetings and then continues to California. The social-media wording is a shortened version of that remark.
How many people does Nvidia employ in Israel?
About 6,000 as of Globes' November 2026 reporting, roughly double the just over 3,000 it had on October 7, 2023.
Where are Nvidia's Israeli offices?
The largest is in Yokneam, near Haifa, which came with the Mellanox acquisition. Globes has also listed offices in Tel Aviv, Ra'anana, Tel Hai, Kiryat Gat and Beersheva.
Is Nvidia an Israeli company?
No. Nvidia is a US company headquartered in California. Its Israeli operations, built around the former Mellanox, are among its most important units.
What happens to the Kiryat Tivon campus?
The plan, announced earlier, is for a campus of up to 10,000 employees with construction starting in 2027. No change has been reported since the leadership shake-up.
Sources
- Globes, "Nvidia CEO's plight sends shock waves across Israel," November 12, 2026: en.globes.co.il
- Globes, "Trillion dollar woman," July 23, 2023: en.globes.co.il
- Al Jazeera and Reuters, "Why did Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resign, and who is Colette Kress?" November 12, 2026: aljazeera.com
- Additional reporting: The Jerusalem Post and Calcalist on the Kiryat Tivon campus; Business Standard and The National News Desk on the appointment.
How we report: Olam stories draw on public filings, company disclosures and named sources, checked by our editors. Read our methodology · Corrections
