My guess (sure, I'll add to the noise): he's designating successors for the care, feeding, and future development of TeX. He's "retiring" from TeX. Hence the

My guess (sure, I'll add to the noise): he's designating successors for the care, feeding, and future development of TeX. He's "retiring" from TeX. Hence the lead in to the panel session that follows. But that's just a guess.