‘End of an era’: Ex-Facebook execs on Sheryl Sandberg’s departure from company 

Former Managing Global Client Partner and Emerging Markets Lead for Global Partnerships at Facebook Kirthiga Reddy said that Sheryl Sandberg’s stepping away from the company is the “end of an era.”  

Reddy said in a LinkedIn post that Sandberg led with a combination of authenticity, vulnerability and tireless commitment to Facebook’s mission. The former Lead for Global Partnership at the social media behemoth said that Sheryl taught her building a business of unprecedented scale and how to invest in people.  

She recounted an encounter with Sandberg and wrote, “When I was starting my role as Head of Facebook India and their first full-time employee in India, I asked her for any advice on how I can have outsized impact. Astutely, she said, “Kirthiga, your first task is building our global operations office in India. You come from the product world and haven’t grown up in the operations world. Make sure you understand the nitty-gritty of what it takes to build global operations. That’s what will give you the foundation to lead and the power to make decisions at a 20,000 feet level.”” 

Reddy ended her LinkedIn post on Sandberg by wishing the former Facebook executive luck for the next leg of her journey. She wrote, “I am so excited for Sheryl’s next chapter. As incredible as the journey at Facebook has been, the best is yet to come. Sheryl-so grateful to have experienced your brilliance and warmth. You have millions of people across the globe cheering you on at your every turn.” 

Chief Marketing Officer at crypto exchange Coinbase and former Vice President and Global Head of Brand and Product Marketing at Facebook Kate Rouch also shared her experience working with Sandberg. She talked about how Sandberg helped her work through her pregnancies with the help of a conducive work environment.  

Rouch wrote in a LinkedIn post, “I honestly don’t know if I’d have continued leaning in through both of my pregnancies without the tangible support for being a mom that I saw in Meta’s built environment—built thanks to Sheryl who experienced being a working mom without them. You can’t be what you can’t see. Thanks Sheryl.” 

Meta Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg announced her departure from the company after a 14-year long stint that covered the company’s journey from being ‘scandal-prone’ to achieving advertising dominance.  

Sandberg’s tenure has also been marked with privacy violations such as the Cambridge Analytica data breach in 2018 and the recent allegations of the company prioritizing profit over curbing hate speech and misinformation across its platforms by whistleblower Frances Haugen. 

After Sandberg’s departure, CEO Mark Zuckerberg named Javian Olivan as the new COO of the company. As the COO, Olivan will continue to drive infrastructure and corporate growth at Meta and will also oversee advertising and business products on the platform, as per Zuckerberg’s Facebook post.  Olivan served as the Chief Growth Officer of Facebook where he supervised products and services across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.  

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