Sheryl Sandberg, who helped to turn Facebook into digital advertising empire, to leave company board

Sheryl Sandberg, who helped transform Facebook from a tech startup to a digital advertising empire, will step down from the board of directors of Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

Sheryl Sandberg, who helped transform Facebook from a tech startup to a digital advertising empire, will step down from the board of directors of Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

“With a heart full of gratitude and a mind full of memories, I inform the Meta board that I will not be seeking re-election in May,” Sandberg wrote in a Facebook post.

Sandberg left Google to join Facebook in 2008, four years before the company went public. As the No. 2 manager at Meta under CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sandberg also faced criticism for some of his biggest missteps.

She stepped down as Meta’s Chief Operating Officer in 2022, but remained a member of the company’s board. She was COO of Facebook for fourteen and a half years and then of Meta and a board member for twelve years.

“Under Mark’s leadership, Javi Olivan, Justin Osofsky, Nicola Mendelsohn and their teams have proven beyond doubt that the Meta business is strong and well positioned for the future, so this feels like the right time to step away,” Sandberg wrote . .

Sandberg said she will continue to serve as an advisor to the company.

Last year, Sandberg announced that she would launch a leadership program for girls through her foundation in response to what she calls persistent gender inequality. The Girls Leadership Program includes a high school curriculum and adult resources.

Lean In is a project of the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation, the private foundation that Sandberg founded together with her late husband Dave Goldberg.