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

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on "Foreign Influence Operations and Their Use of Social Media Platforms," on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 5, 2018. Sandberg has informed Facebook owner Meta's board of directors that she doesn't plan to stand for reelection in the spring. “With a heart filled with gratitude and a mind filled with memories, I let the Meta board know that I will not stand for reelection this May,” Sandberg wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday Jan. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

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

“With a heart filled with gratitude and a mind filled with memories, I let the Meta board know that I will not stand for reelection this 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 executive at Meta under CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sandberg also took a lot of heat for some of its biggest missteps.

She stepped down as chief operating officer of Meta in 2022 but remained a member of the company board. She had served as COO of Facebook, and then Meta, for 14 and a half years and as a board member for 12 years.

“Under Mark's leadership, Javi Olivan, Justin Osofsky, Nicola Mendelsohn, and their teams have proven beyond a 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 was launching a girls leadership program through her foundation to respond to what she calls stubborn gender inequities. The girls leadership program includes a middle-school curriculum as well as resources for adults.

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