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If Jensen Huang goes, who could replace him? Here’s who the board might pick if the Nvidia CEO is ousted in the wake of affair scandals
Likely someone safe and internal in the short-term, but the doors are wide open in the long-term.
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It was bad enough for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that he admitted to having an affair with someone, who people believe to be someone suspected of being a Chinese spy. But it's now come to light he has reportedly had a second affair with a member of Nvidia staff—Kimberly Powell, VP of healthcare. After this latest story it's looking more likely that Huang could be forced to resign.
The question is what's next for Nvidia if the board today decides his tenure as the longest-serving Silicon Valley CEO should come to an end. Huang has been the image of the company in the eyes of the public for a long time, so whoever steps in to replace him will have a big leather jacket to fill. And whoever it is, it will be a major change for the company regardless.
The doors are wide open for Nvidia in the long-term, so it's difficult to pin down with any certainty who any eventual replacement CEO would be, but in the interim the options are more limited. Here's who we could consider seeing as the new CEO of Nvidia.
The first thing to note is that if Huang does get the boot, Nvidia will need to appoint someone to the position quickly as an interim CEO. As one of the biggest companies in the world and a major player in the AI industry which is keeping large parts of the US economy afloat, trying to quickly mitigate economic concerns will be key. This would likely mean picking someone internal to Nvidia.
Top of the list here is Nvidia CFO Colette Kress. If you've listened to Nvidia earnings calls, you'll have heard Kress talking to investors about how the company's doing. Kress could be a likely pick for interim CEO because she's known to investors and heads up company finances. In the short term, to investors she'd seem a safe bet to keep the company in good financial standing amidst any damage Huang's controversies may have done to Nvidia's long-term future.
Other options internal to Nvidia aren't out of the question, either. Jeff Fisher is especially noteworthy because he's very public-facing, but he is very much couched in the world of gaming as SVP of the GeForce department. Kress would still likely be a safer bet for investors.
Chief technology officer, Michael Kagan, is another option, and would potentially be a good fit as co-interim CEO alongside Kress. Kagan joined Nvidia as part of the Mellanox acquisition, a company which he co-founded. He is also a former Intel engineer having managed the design of the Pentium MMX chips.
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