Nvidia Names Harvey Jones Its First Chair After CEO Exit

By Sophie Lindqvist

Nvidia appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first board chair on Nov. 11, giving independent directors a permanent chair for the first time. Jones, 73, joined Nvidia’s board in 1993, the year the chip company was founded. The same day, Nvidia accepted Jensen Huang’s resignation as president, CEO and director and named CFO Colette Kress interim chief executive.

That change came amid an internal investigation into Huang’s ties with Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive whom U.S. officials suspect of spying for China. Beijing denies the allegation. Jones now leads the board through the permanent CEO search and the investigation. No findings or timetable have been disclosed for either task.

Jones told staff in a Nov. 12 memo that the board would consider internal and external candidates for a permanent successor and had “full confidence in Colette to deliver on our commitments to shareholders.” The statement supports Kress during the transition, but it gives no appointment date or measurable target.

The appointment puts a long-serving independent director in charge while Nvidia faces both an executive vacancy and a geopolitical allegation. Jones brings direct experience in computer-aided engineering, chip-design software and embedded processor licensing, but his new title does not settle who will set strategy after the interim period.

Who is Harvey Jones?

• Jones co-founded Daisy Systems, a computer-aided engineering company, in 1981. He served as president and CEO until 1987.
• He led chip-design software maker Synopsys from 1987 to 1998, first as CEO for seven years and then as executive chairman. Reuters notes that he took Synopsys public in 1992.
• Jones co-founded Tensilica in 1997. The company licensed embedded processor designs, and he chaired it until Cadence Design Systems acquired it in 2013.
• Since 2004, he has served as managing partner of Square Wave Ventures, a private family office. He holds a mathematics and computer science degree from Georgetown and a master’s in management from MIT.

Nvidia’s proxy lists Jones as an independent director and an audit committee financial expert. He sits on the audit committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee, and on no other public company board.

Like other non-employee directors, Jones received $363,809 in fiscal 2026. That consisted of $85,000 in cash and the remainder in restricted stock units. Bloomberg noted that Nvidia invested in Synopsys last year, while Jones left Synopsys’s management in 1998. Neither the investment size nor any resulting conflict of interest appears in that report.

What do his shares and shareholder vote show?

Jones’s latest Form 4, filed June 29, lists 71,618 Nvidia shares held directly and 6,933,280 in the H.C. Jones Living Trust, about 7 million in total. At Nvidia’s Nov. 12 closing price of $166.19, MLQ.ai calculated the holdings at about $1.16 billion. Jones sold 250,000 shares at an average price of $177.33 in December 2025.

At the June 24 annual meeting, 15.24 billion shares voted for Jones and 1.57 billion voted against him. The 1.57 billion opposition represented 9.3% of votes cast, the second-highest opposition share against any director after Lead Director Stephen Neal. Huang drew about 1% opposition.

The figures show dissent without defeating Jones’s re-election. His 15.24 billion supporting votes supplied a clear majority, while the 9.3% opposition exceeded the roughly 1% recorded against Huang.

What does a separate chair change?

Until Nov. 11, Nvidia had no chair. Its proxy said the board preferred an independent Lead Director, designated each year by the independent directors when no chair was selected. The CEO ran strategy and operations, while the Lead Director led executive sessions without the CEO.

Stephen Neal held that role and chairs the governance committee. He is a former Cooley CEO who has advised boards on internal and government investigations. Nvidia has not said whether Neal remains Lead Director under Jones. The new arrangement separates chair leadership from Kress’s interim executive role, but Nvidia has not specified any added powers or reporting lines for Jones.

How is the CEO search and investigation proceeding?

Bloomberg reported that Nvidia is working with an outside search firm, which it did not name. The report identifies no candidate, timetable or search terms. Jones’s memo confirms an intended search process, not a near-term appointment or a promised outcome for Kress’s interim tenure.

An independent-director committee oversees the investigation into Huang’s ties with Alice Huang. Former acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are involved. Nvidia has not named the committee’s members. Their involvement establishes oversight and legal scrutiny, not a finding about the suspected China spying or Beijing’s denial.

Jones’s first test is whether the board can turn formal oversight into a credible CEO choice. The next leadership decision will shape Nvidia’s competitive direction and management continuity, but the board has disclosed no candidate, timetable, capacity plan or pricing forecast.