Nvidia’s CFO crosses billion-dollar net worth mark

Nvidia’s unprecedented climb past a $4 trillion market cap this summer has not only set global valuation records, but has also made its CFO, Colette Kress, a billionaire.

On July 29, Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index listed Kress with a net worth exceeding $1 billion thanks largely to her equity holdings in the chipmaker. According to Bloomberg data, Kress owns or has options for more than 5.4 million Nvidia shares, worth roughly $1 billion at current prices. 

While valuations fluctuate with Nvidia’s share price, the milestone places her in rare company. Fellow 10-figure net worth chief financial officers include former Oracle CFO and current CEO Safra Catz and Ineos CFO John Reece, who are among the few finance chiefs to have reached billionaire status.

Kress, who joined Nvidia in 2013 after senior finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft, has been a key figure in the company’s AI-driven expansion beyond gaming processors into powering generative AI. During her 12-year tenure, Nvidia has become the most valuable U.S. company by market capitalization and one of the most influential players in global technology markets and smart chip manufacturing.

Kress’s wealth reflects how equity compensation has become the central driver of CFO net worth at hyper-growth tech companies. Unlike cash bonuses or short-term incentives, her stock grants vested for more than a decade.

For Nvidia, this compensation model extends well beyond the C-suite. The company’s stock performance has created thousands of employees who are multi-millionaires, mirroring what happened with the equity awards for employees at Microsoft, Google and Apple during their early growth waves. While this makes for a motivated workforce, it can also complicate recruiting and retention once money is no longer a differentiator, a challenge companies like Meta have recently seen in their AI recruitment tactics.

Nvidia’s compensation model highlights a potential long-term issue for finance chiefs at high-growth technology companies: As equity values grow, how do you keep incentivizing employees who already have achieved substantial personal wealth?

CFOs at publicly traded companies are currently the youngest they have been in six years and have the highest turnover rate in the same timeframe. As equity-based compensation at fast-growing technology companies now results in higher-paid leaders, retaining executives who do not see a billion-dollar future at the company may also be difficult if opportunities elsewhere, particularly in technology, grow.

Kress’s inclusion in Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index also underscores the central role CFOs now play in shaping company performance and the broader employee experience and corporate culture. For Nvidia, the rise of its now billionaire CFO is a direct reflection of the company’s AI-driven market dominance and a reminder of the complex human capital challenges that accompany such rapid growth.