Nvidia’s new chairman Harvey Jones is a ‘charming elder statesman’ set to lead the search for the next CEO. But did he enable the current crisis?
The next Nvidia CEO doesn’t just have to keep its own products shipping on time.
Key points
- In the wake of former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s stunning departure from the company, employees received an email from someone most of them had probably never heard of before, even though he’d been affiliated with the company and its board for decades.
- His name is Harvey Jones, and he was writing to tell them that he’d just been appointed the company’s first-ever Chair of the Board, and that Nvidia CFO Colette Kress would serve as interim CEO.
- Although Jones, 73, may not be a household name, he has worked in the technology industry, and in semiconductors, for over 30 years, according to his biography on the Nvidia website.
The person who takes the top job also has to keep the entire industry alive.
Reed’s view Nvidia got caught without a succession plan for CEO Jensen Huang, but it wasn’t for lack of trying, according to people briefed on the effort to hire a replacement.
Additional details
- “The board cannot simply present itself as the solution without examining its role in creating the problem.” Case in point: Huang’s affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, was known inside the company, and appears to violate its code of conduct, The New York Times reported.
- Jones himself is a billionaire, which Forbes says is “almost entirely due to his Nvidia director’s compensation” and the fact that he owns 0.03% of the company.
- He founded two companies, served as CEO of another, and since 2004 has been managing partner of investment firm Square Wave Ventures.
- As the CEO, Rowen was an enthusiastic technical and operational leader overseeing the team.
- He then tried to reassure employees no doubt left shaken by the past weeks’ revelations and the sudden departure of Jensen Huang, a man who co-founded the company and, until today, had been synonymous with its success.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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