Dawn Hudson

Hudson holds a BA in English from Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private institution of higher education in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded by Eleazar Wheelock, it received a royal charter on December 13, 1769. The 1819 Supreme Court ruling in Dartmouth College v. Woodward preserved its private status. Alongside undergraduate liberal arts education, Dartmouth includes the Geisel, Thayer, Tuck and Guarini schools. It enrolled 7,273 students in fall 2025 and held a $9 billion endowment at June 30, 2025. Sian Leah Beilock, in office since June 2023, remained president as of October 2026.Open the full entry. She spent 13 years in marketing, advertising and branding strategy, holding leadership positions at major agencies including D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) and Omnicom GroupOmnicomOmnicom (Omnicom Group Inc.) is a marketing and communications holding company headquartered in New York, formed in 1986 through the combination of three advertising agencies, BBDO, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper Worldwide, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker OMC). After completing its acquisition of Interpublic in November 2025, it brings together advertising, media and public relations networks including BBDO, TBWA, McCann, OMD, FleishmanHillard and Weber Shandwick.Open the full entry.⁠[1][2]

She became president of Pepsi-Cola North America, PepsiCo’s beverage division for the U.S.United StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry and Canada, in 2002, serving as its president and CEO from 2005 to 2007 while also serving as CEO of PepsiCo’s foodservice division. NVIDIA’s 2013 announcement said she spent 11 years at PepsiCo until 2009 in top marketing, strategy and management roles and described her as former CEO of PepsiCo’s $6 billion North American beverage business.⁠[1][2]

From 2009 to 2014 she was vice chairman of The Parthenon Group, a strategy consulting firm.⁠[1]

On July 23, 2013, NVIDIA announced the appointment of Hudson, then 55, to its board, expanding it to 10 members; then-president and CEO Jensen HuangJensen HuangJensen Huang is a co-founder of NVIDIA who served as its president, chief executive officer, and a director from the company’s founding in 1993 until he resigned from those positions in November 2026. He has a background in electrical engineering education and the semiconductor industry, and under his leadership NVIDIA’s business expanded from graphics chips to GPU general-purpose computing, artificial intelligence, and data center computing platforms.Open the full entry said she had been a senior executive at one of America’s great companies and had extensive experience as a company director.⁠[2]

NVIDIA’s May 2026 proxy statement gave her age as 68 and listed her as chair of the compensation committee.⁠[3]

From 2014 to 2018 she was chief marketing officer of the National Football League.⁠[1]

On November 8, 2026, the NVIDIA board began an independent investigation in light of reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort, overseen by a committee of independent directors assisted by outside independent counsel; the board said it had no reason to believe that national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised. On November 10, the independent directors announced that they had retained Joon H. Kim, former acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the investigation.⁠[4][5]

On November 11, the board accepted Jensen Huang’s resignation as president, chief executive officer and director, appointed Colette KressColette KressColette Kress is an American business executive who has been executive vice president and chief financial officer of NVIDIA since September 2013 and, since November 2026, also its interim chief executive officer following the resignation of Jensen Huang; she previously held finance positions at Texas Instruments, Microsoft and Cisco.Open the full entry interim chief executive officer and named Harvey C. JonesHarvey C. JonesHarvey C. Jones is an American entrepreneur and investor in electronic design automation who co-founded Daisy Systems in 1981, led Synopsys from 1987 to 1998 and co-founded Tensilica in 1997. An NVIDIA director since 1993, he became NVIDIA’s first-ever chair of the board on November 11, 2026.Open the full entry the company’s first-ever chair of the board; the company announced the changes on November 12.⁠[6][7]

She has served on the boards of Lowe’s (2001–2015), Allergan (2008–2014), P.F. Chang’s China Bistro (2010–2012), Amplify Snack Brands (2014–2018), Modern Times Group MTG (2020–2023) and the Interpublic Group (2011–2025), and currently serves on the boards of a private skincare company and a private consumer diagnostic portfolio company.⁠[3]

Her LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry profile describes her current work as a board director and public speaker, with talks on championing growth for individuals and companies, such as the power of brand.⁠[8]

NVIDIA: Official website: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/ (opens in a new window).⁠[9]

National Football League: Official website: https://www.nfl.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

LinkedIn: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-hudson1/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]