Nvidia's 36 direct reports: a broad CEO span under scrutiny

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had 36 direct reports (executives with a direct line to him) as of October 2025, according to an internal list obtained by Business Insider, against the 55 he cited at Stanford in March 2024.

Since then, two listed executives, Jay Puri and Laura Fay, have left, and Nvidia's board announced in November 2026 that it was initiating an investigation after reporting that Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. Huang also admitted an affair. For human resources (HR) leaders, the immediate people-process questions are executive continuity, internal communications and access to the CEO.

Nvidia's spokesperson declined to comment on the list. Separately, a spokesperson said Huang is "committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption." The source says it remains unclear what the investigation will mean for his role.

What does Huang's reporting structure look like?

Direct reports sit closest to Huang's decision-making. The October snapshot puts human resources, corporate communications, finance, legal, engineering and several business units in that group.

Huang said at The New York Times DealBook Summit in 2023: "The more direct reports the CEO has, the less layers are in the company." He added that the arrangement keeps information fluid and empowers employees with it.

At Stanford in March 2024, Huang said he had 55 direct reports, many paid the same amount. He also avoids routine one-on-one meetings with those executives, although a direct report can request one and he will drop other commitments to attend.

The source links Nvidia's massive workforce growth in recent years, driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, to Huang's demanding work ethic and the culture the source describes as hardcore. It remains unclear whether 36 marks a move away from the horizontal structure he has promoted.

HR's operating test is whether that information flow produces clear decision rights and a workable route for employee communications. A broad reporting line is a design choice, not a guarantee of organizational clarity.

Who sits in the CEO's inner circle?

The internal list identifies senior and executive leaders across Nvidia, the company the source describes as the world's most valuable company. Titles follow the list: VP (vice president), SVP (senior vice president) and EVP (executive vice president).

• Alexis Bjorlin — VP and general manager for DGX Cloud
• Amit Krig — SVP of software and NIC (network interface cards) product line
• Andrew Bell — SVP of engineering
• Arjun Prabhu — VP of GPU (graphics processing unit) ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) engineering
• Bill Dally — chief scientist
• Charlie Boyle — VP of DGX (Deep GPU Xceleration) Systems
• Chris Malachowsky — cofounder
• Colette Kress — EVP and chief financial officer
• Debora Shoquist — EVP of operations
• Deepu Talla — VP and general manager of the mobile business unit
• Dror Goldenberg — SVP of network software architecture
• Dwight Diercks — SVP of software engineering
• Edie Fischer — CEA, the title given in the list
• Eyal Babish — SVP of hardware engineering
• Gilad Shainer — SVP of networking
• Howard Wright — VP of Nvidia Inception
• Ian Buck — VP of hyperscale and high-performance computing; the architect behind Nvidia's CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) software
• Jay Puri — EVP of worldwide field operations; departed the company since the snapshot
• Jeff Fisher — SVP of the GeForce business unit
• John Spitzer — VP of developer and performance technology
• Jonah Alben — SVP of GPU engineering
• Joseph Greco — SVP of the advanced technology group
• Justin Boitano — VP of enterprise AI
• Kari Briski — VP of generative AI software for enterprise
• Kevin Deierling — SVP of networking
• Kristin Major — SVP and head of human resources
• Laura Fay — VP of enterprise marketing, corporate communications and global events; departed the company since the snapshot
• Michael Kagan — chief technology officer
• Mylene Mangalindan — VP of corporate communications
• Patrick Whitgrove — VP of creative and communications
• Rev Lebaredian — VP of Omniverse and simulation technology
• Ronnie Vasishta — SVP of telecom
• Sameer Halepete — VP of VLSI (very-large-scale integration) engineering
• Sonu Nayyar — SVP and chief information officer
• Tim Teter — EVP, general counsel and secretary
• Xinzhou Wu — VP of automotive

How does the span compare with peer structures?

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg prefers not to have too many direct reports and runs the company with 30 lieutenants, not all of whom report to him directly. That is the concrete contrast with Huang's 36-person direct group. Elon Musk had 19 direct reports at Tesla as of August and five at xAI.

The counts settle nothing about which structure works better. They do show a range of choices about delegation, access and how many people can bring decisions to one leader.

What should HR watch now?

The source offers a fixed October 2025 snapshot rather than a live organization chart. Two departures and the November 2026 investigation have already altered the top team's circumstances, and the future of Huang's role remains unsettled.

HR's next checkpoint is whether Huang remains in place and whether further departures redraw those 36 reporting lines.