Nvidia doesn’t seem to have a succession plan. Here’s what a CHRO in such a situation can do.

Following reports from multiple news outlets that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang engaged in extramarital affairs—one with an alleged Chinese spy that raised national security concerns, and another with a Nvidia executive—he apologized and admitted “I was unfaithful to my wife” in a Nov. 8 letter to employees.

He ultimately resigned on Nov. 12 from the $4 trillion chipmaker he co-founded 33 years ago. (Huang has not publicly named the women, and following his resignation, Reuters reported a third affair with a second Nvidia employee.)

In the company’s announcement of Huang’s resignation, it was revealed that Nvidia’s executive vice president and CFO, Colette Kress, has stepped in as interim CEO.

“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,” Harvey Jones, chair of the board, said in the announcement.

But it seems Nvidia does not have a succession plan in place, CNBC reported.

“This is a company that has built itself on [Huang’s] personality,” Patrick Riccards, crisis communications expert and founder and CEO of the Driving Force Institute, told HR Brew, later adding, “You’ve got a company that is, you know, one of the most sought after in the world, that has no succession planning whatsoever because they never thought he was going to leave.”

Is this normal? It’s uncommon for companies not to have succession plans in place for every C-suite executive, HR Brew previously reported. It’s important to give incoming executives time to train and develop their leadership skills, and for the company to have a plan in case of emergency, experts said.

But not having a succession plan for a CEO is a particularly bold choice, Laura Azzarella, co-founder of HR consulting firm Applied Potential Solutions, told HR Brew.

“There should be different levels of succession…Somebody is going to retire one day, and invariably we need somebody to step in,” Azzarella said. “You always need an emergency crisis backup plan, and they don’t even have that.”

What’s HR to do? CHROs should always have an emergency communications plan, Azzarella said, adding this applies whether addressing a hurricane or “major ethical breach.”

Succession planning, whether anticipated or not, can be tricky for CHROs to navigate, Riccards said, but they have to be prepared to answer employees’ questions. FAQ documents about leadership changes, including those during times of crisis, can be helpful.

Leaving employees’ questions unanswered could lead to retention issues, Azzarella noted.

“Your role in an emergency is to let your employees know we’re figuring this out,” she said. “Here’s what the next two or three steps are. Here’s when we’re going to communicate to you next, and this is what we anticipate communicating to you.”

Nvidia did not respond to HR Brew’s request for comment by the time of publication.