Sheryl Sandberg will step down from Meta’s board after 12 years

(Reuters) – Meta Platform’s former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg plans to leave her post on the company’s board of directors after her term ends in May, she said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

“The Meta business is strong and well-positioned for the future, so it feels like the time is right to exit,” Sandberg said in the post. She said she would work as a consultant for the company.

Responding to Sandberg, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he looked forward to “a new chapter together.”

Sandberg’s decision comes after spending more than 14 years as the company’s chief operating officer, in addition to spending 12 years on its board. Sandberg resigned as head of operations for Metra in 2022.

Sandberg, once second in command to founder Zuckerberg, was one of the company’s best-known executives and a key architect of its often criticized advertising-based business model.

Sandberg has been a staunch defender of Facebook during its many controversies, consistently arguing that executives are learning from its mistakes and honing the company’s tools for better policing against harmful content.

Before joining Facebook, Sandberg was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google and chief of staff at the United States Department of the Treasury under former President Bill Clinton.

A graduate of Harvard University, Sandberg is the author of several books, including the 2013 feminist manifesto “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.”

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)