Despite speculation about who could lead on The Estée Lauder Cos. next, Fabrizio Freda, the chief executive officer for the past 13 years, stressed that he’s not going anywhere.

Answering an issue about succession planning and the transition process on the cosmetics giant on the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer and Retail Conference in Latest York Wednesday within the wake of the retirement of another senior executive, Freda, who’s 65, said he’s “completely committed to proceed leading this company for the foreseeable future.”

“There isn’t any plan from my angle to enter a transition period. We’re, by the way in which, in the midst of the massive business transition on the market. There’s quite a lot of evolution issues world wide,” he continued. “It’s a really exciting moment, but in addition very vital moment. And I’m completely committed to this company. I feel we’ve created among the best firms in consumer goods with a unprecedented opportunity for the long run.”

In addition to its multibillion-dollar acquisition of Tom Ford, its first foray into fashion, Lauder is grappling with COVID-19 lockdowns in China, which weighed on business in probably the most recent quarter, forcing it to lower its full-year forecasts.

Full-year net sales are forecast to diminish between 6 percent and eight percent within the 2023 financial yr, down from its previous forecast of growth of three to five percent.

Freda stressed, though, that his continued leadership is as much as the board.

“So far as I do know today the board is with me and we’re committed to proceed working together,” Freda said. “So we should not entering today a transition period. Nonetheless, we’re definitely managing succession in the correct way. And so out of this succession is a unique methodology than simply CEO succession. I personally don’t imagine in CEO succession, at the least for our company….[W]e should not the type of company…by which there might be a transition of the CEO. There might be a latest CEO, a latest team and a latest direction. Now it is a long-term strategy where we’ve a continuity as you said, we’ve modified the direction of the corporate and there may be a lot still to do on this area, which is fascinating. So we’re on the lookout for a succession that features the team.”

In line with its latest annual report, Freda’s total pay package for the fiscal yr 2022 was $25.48 million, compared with $65.9 million in 2021. A few of this might be made up of stock options, the complete value of which could never be realized because of fluctuations in stock prices and vesting schedules.

While his base salary increased from $1.6 million to $2.1 million, the decrease in the entire package was mainly because of 50,429,620 stock awards he received in 2021.