Harvey Jones becomes Nvidia’s first board chair — Fortune
Harvey Jones has been appointed Nvidia’s first board chair, while the company’s chief financial officer, Colette Kress, became interim CEO following Jensen Huang’s departure. Fortune reports, citing published screenshots of Jones’s letter to employees.
In the letter, Jones said that the board of directors takes its responsibilities toward the company seriously. He has been on Nvidia’s board since 1993, the year the company was founded by Jensen Huang. According to a biography on Nvidia’s website, Jones has worked in the technology and semiconductor industries for more than 30 years, founded two companies, led another as CEO, and has been a managing partner at investment firm Square Wave Ventures since 2004.
Search for a permanent CEO
According to Penny Herscher, who previously worked with Jones, he is likely to lead the search for Nvidia’s permanent chief executive. At the same time, she noted that she had not discussed this directly with Jones. In her view, the fact that he serves on Nvidia’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, which is typically involved in the CEO search process, also supports such a decision.
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Herscher suggested that the search could take at least several months. According to her, the board of directors usually hires a recruiting firm to find candidates, after which the board chair and members of an internal search committee speak with the most promising contenders. Bloomberg reported this week that Nvidia had already hired a recruiting firm.
Jones’s experience
In 1997, Jones co-founded Tensilica, a semiconductor processor company, with Chris Rowen. Rowen described Jones as an experienced manager who helped the team remain confident and see the broader strategy. Veteran technology industry executive Chi-Fu Chan, in a 2019 interview with the Computer History Museum, also called Jones a persuasive interlocutor, recalling his work at Synopsys, which Jones led from 1987 to 1998.
