Updated November 12, 2026 (ET).
Harvey C. Jones has been on Nvidia’s board since 1993, the year the company was founded. On November 12, 2026, Nvidia announced that its directors had appointed him the board’s first-ever chair, after they accepted the resignation of Jensen Huang and named finance chief Colette Kress interim chief executive.
A Form 8-K filed that morning says the board appointed Jones, age 73, as chair on November 11. He has served as a director since 1993 and has been managing partner of Square Wave Ventures, a private family office, since 2004, the filing says, with more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur, high-technology executive, and venture investor. The same filing says the board accepted Huang’s resignation as president, chief executive officer, and a director on November 11, effective immediately, and named Kress, age 59, interim CEO. She will continue as executive vice president and chief financial officer while the board searches for a permanent chief executive and considers internal and external candidates.
“Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” Jones said in the company’s November 12 news release. “The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.” The release describes Jones as an entrepreneur, technology executive, and active venture investor for more than 30 years, including service as chief executive officer and executive chairman of Synopsys.
The change followed a week of turmoil around Huang. On November 8, in a staff email obtained by CNBC, Huang apologized for being unfaithful to his wife. That same day, Nvidia’s board said it was opening an independent investigation “in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.” On November 10, the independent directors said they had retained Joon H. Kim, a former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the inquiry. The November 12 release does not say whether that investigation continues.
The stock was lower after the announcement. Yahoo Finance showed Nvidia trading at $165.35, down $8.38, or 4.82%, as of 11:58 a.m. ET Thursday. Nvidia said it will still report third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, November 17, at approximately 1:20 p.m. PT, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m. PT.
Harvey C. Jones: Quick facts
Full name: Harvey C. Jones, according to Nvidia’s November 12, 2026 Form 8-K.
Age: 73, according to that filing.
Known for: An Nvidia director since 1993; appointed the board’s first-ever chair on November 11, 2026, after Jensen Huang resigned; former chief executive and executive chairman of Synopsys.
Education: A bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer sciences from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to Nvidia’s official biography and its 2026 proxy.
Earlier career: Co-founded Daisy Systems, a computer-aided engineering company, in 1981 and served as its president and CEO until 1987; led Synopsys from 1987 to 1998, including seven years as CEO and then as executive chairman; co-founded Tensilica in 1997 and chaired its board until Cadence Design Systems acquired the company in 2013.
Current firm: Managing partner of Square Wave Ventures, a private family office, since 2004, according to the November 12 Form 8-K and Nvidia’s 2026 proxy.
Residence: Palm Beach, Florida, according to Forbes.
Latest news: Appointed Nvidia’s first-ever board chair on November 11, 2026, as the board named Colette Kress interim CEO and began a search for a permanent successor to Huang.
How did Harvey C. Jones get onto Nvidia’s board?
Jones’s path to the board ran through chip-design software. Nvidia’s official biography and its 2026 proxy statement say he co-founded Daisy Systems Corp., a computer-aided engineering company, in 1981 and ultimately served as its president and chief executive until 1987. Between 1987 and 1998, he led Synopsys, a major electronic design automation company, serving as CEO for seven years and then as executive chairman.
In a 2009 oral history for the Computer History Museum, Jones said the people who founded Nvidia had been Synopsys’s first customer. “The founding team of Nvidia were, in fact, the core engineers that were our first customer at Synopsys. So we had a very, very close relationship with the team that founded Nvidia,” he said. He said that sitting on boards of young companies began as a sideline while he was Synopsys’s CEO: “At first it was a hobby.” He joined the Nvidia board in 1993.
In 1997, while still associated with Synopsys, he co-founded Tensilica, a privately held technology-IP company that developed and licensed embedded processing cores. He chaired its board from the start until Cadence Design Systems acquired the company in 2013, the official biography says. Since 2004 he has been managing partner of Square Wave Ventures. Nvidia’s current board biography calls that firm “a private investment firm”; the November 12 Form 8-K and the 2026 proxy describe it as “a private family office.”
Nvidia’s 2026 proxy, with information as of the company’s 2026 annual meeting, listed Jones as an independent director and an audit-committee financial expert, and as a member of the audit committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee. The company’s board biography page, opened November 12, 2026, listed only the nominating and corporate governance committee and had not yet been updated to include the new chair title.
What does Harvey C. Jones oversee now?
As chair, he is the first person to hold that title on Nvidia’s board. The November 12 release says the board is initiating a search for a permanent chief executive and will consider internal and external candidates. Kress is serving as interim CEO and remaining CFO until a successor is named. The Who Is Colette Kress? page covers her appointment; the Who Is Jensen Huang? page, last updated October 23, 2026, covers how Huang built the company.
Jones’s own stake in Nvidia is substantial. The 2026 proxy says he beneficially owned 7,003,687 shares as of March 23, 2026, including 6,933,280 shares held in the H.C. Jones Living Trust, of which he is trustee, and 900 shares issuable within 60 days. That was less than 1% of the common stock then outstanding. Forbes, on a profile last updated March 10, 2026, listed a real-time net worth of $1.6 billion as of November 12, 2026, and said he is a billionaire “almost entirely due to his Nvidia director’s compensation.” That figure moves with the shares; it is not a separately audited valuation.
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Frequently asked questions about Harvey C. Jones
Who is Harvey C. Jones?
He is a longtime Nvidia director, on the board since 1993, and a former chief executive and executive chairman of Synopsys. On November 11, 2026, Nvidia’s board appointed him its first-ever chair, after Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO, and a director. He is 73 and has been managing partner of Square Wave Ventures since 2004.
Why was Harvey C. Jones named Nvidia’s board chair?
The board created the chair role on the same day it accepted Huang’s resignation and named Colette Kress interim CEO. Nvidia had not previously had a board chair. The company has not given a separate public explanation for choosing Jones beyond his tenure and background as described in the November 12 release and the Form 8-K.
Is Harvey C. Jones Nvidia’s CEO?
No. Colette Kress, the company’s longtime chief financial officer, was named interim CEO on November 11, 2026. Jones chairs the board. The board has said it is searching for a permanent chief executive and will consider internal and external candidates.
How long has Harvey C. Jones been on Nvidia’s board?
Since 1993, the year Nvidia was founded. In a 2009 Computer History Museum interview, he said the founding team had been Synopsys’s first customer when he was that company’s CEO, and that they asked him to join the original board.
Further reading
NVIDIA Board of Directors: Statement opening the investigation (November 8, 2026)
Independent members of the NVIDIA Board: Wachtell and Joon H. Kim retained (November 10, 2026)
CNBC: Huang’s November 8 staff email and the board statement
Computer History Museum: Oral history of Harvey Jones (2009)
Business Insider: What we know about Nvidia’s new chair (November 12, 2026)
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