Board

Facebook announced today that Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has joined the company’s board of directors.

As COO, Sandberg is already instrumental in leading Facebook, particularly in areas of sales, marketing, business development, legal, human resources, public policy and communications. She has become a trusted partner of CEO Mark Zuckerberg and played a crucial role in helping Facebook better monetize since joining the company in 2008.

Sandberg’s appointment could reduce some of the criticism Facebook has received in the past for having an all-male board of directors. Sandberg joins Zuckerberg; Marc Andreessen, of Andreessen Horowitz; Erskine B. Bowles, president emeritus of University of North Carolina system; James W. Breyer of Accel Partners; Donald E. Graham, chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Company; Reed Hastings, chairman and CEO of Netflix; and Peter A. Thiel of Founders Fund.

Before Facebook, Sandberg was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google, where she similarly took a fledgling Internet company and built it into an advertising powerhouse. She previously served as chief of staff for the United States Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton. She received B.A. and M.B.A degrees from Harvard University. Sandberg also serves on the boards of The Walt Disney Company, Women for Women International, the Center for Global Development and V-Day. She previously sat on the board for Starbucks. Sandberg is also a well-known advocate for gender equality, having spoken about women’s issues at TED and Barnard College, among other events.

Image credit: Facebook Newsroom

Source: Inside Facebook