Sheryl Sandberg is to step down from the board of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, nearly two years after quitting her executive role at the business.
Sandberg was the lead architect of Facebook’s digital advertising-driven business model as Meta’s chief operating officer.
The 54-year-old stepped down from that role in June 2022 and has now announced that she will leave the Meta board after her term ends in May.
“The Meta business is strong and well-positioned for the future, so this feels like the right time to step away,” Sandberg said in a Facebook post, adding that she would serve as an adviser to the company.
Sandberg stepped down from her position as Meta’s operations chief in 2022 after 14 years in the role, having joined Facebook from Google in 2008.
Responding to Sandberg, Meta’s chief executive and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, said he looked forward to “a new chapter together”.
Once second-in-command to Zuckerberg, Sandberg was one of the most visible executives at the company.
She faced numerous controversies while chief operating officer of Zuckerberg’s social media empire, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the use of the Facebook platform in organising the 2021 Capitol riot and ongoing concern over the mining of users’ data to power Facebook’s hugely successful advertising business.
Prior to joining Facebook, Sandberg was vice-president of global online sales and operations at Google and chief of staff for the US Treasury Department under the former president Bill Clinton.
A Harvard graduate, Sandberg is the author of several books, including the 2013 feminist manifesto Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.