When Colette Kress joined the chipmaker Nvidia in September 2013, the company's shares were trading for around 40 cents apiece. The following year, shares were trading for just a few pennies more.
Over a decade later, Nvidia stocks were trading for nearly $150 per share and the company had reached a market cap of well over $3 trillion.
Much or even most of Nvidia's staggering success can be attributed to the cutting-edge GPUs (graphics processing units) it makes, as these chips are high demand thanks to the AI boom.
But Kress has also played a key role in the success of the company, and has become one of Nvidia's top power players, helping to guide the chipmaker to financial success that founders Jensen Huang, Curtis Priem, and Chris Malachowsky surely never dreamt of as they agreed to found Nvidia back in 1993.
Kress' education and career history
Colette Kress holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Arizona, and an MBA from Southern Methodist University, per an Nvidia bio. Her education positioned her well to take on key positions at major companies.
One of these was none other than software juggernaut Microsoft, where Kress worked for 13 years, including multiple years spent as the chief financial officer of the Server and Tools division. Kress has also worked at Cisco and Texas Instruments.
Kress' role at Nvidia
Kress usually runs Nvidia's earnings calls each quarter, and has had mostly stellar earnings to report as AI's boom saw the company's chips in high demand.
During Nvidia's February 2025 earnings call, for instance, the company reported $39.33 billion in revenue, well over estimates. Kress said during the call that demand for Nvidia's Blackwell GPU "exceeded" expectations, though Kress also warned that the impact of the Trump administration's tariffs remained a "bit of an unknown."
In the calendar year 2024, Nvidia's market cap (the value of all outstanding shares) surpassed $2 trillion and then $3 trillion, an almost unheard-of ascent that landed Nvidia among the largest companies in the world in terms of value.
Only Apple generates more revenue than Nvidia, with Microsoft trailing close behind, it also being a $3 trillion-plus company.
Kress' net worth and compensation
While Kress' net worth is unknown, we do know Kress's compensation was around $13.3 million in 2023. Based on the rising fortunes of the company, one can assume that figure has dramatically increased since then.
In fact, publicly available data shows that Nvidia employees in general saw a 17% increase in pay in the 2024 fiscal year, a much greater pay hike than most corporate workers can ever expect.
