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March is Women's History Month!

Facebook Names Sheryl Sandberg To Board

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg was named Monday to the company's board of directors. Sandberg is the first woman on Facebook's board.
Vincenzo Pinto
/
AFP/Getty Images
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg was named Monday to the company's board of directors. Sandberg is the first woman on Facebook's board.

Facebook now has a woman on its board of directors: The company announced Monday that Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg would join the board.

Sandberg, the company's No.2 executive, was hired away from Google in 2008.

"Sheryl has been my partner in running Facebook and has been central to our growth and success over the years," Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement on the social networking site's website. "Her understanding of our mission and long-term opportunity, and her experience both at Facebook and on public company boards makes her a natural fit for our board."

There had been public calls for the company to add a woman to its board, but Facebook didn't say whether Monday's move was related to those demands.

According to The Associated Press:

"Sandberg has been largely responsible for building Facebook's advertising business. She's also often serves as Facebook's public face, appearing at conferences and important meetings, while Zuckerberg often prefers to stay in the background and focus on Facebook's products."

Sandberg, who began her career at the World Bank, was Google's vice president of Global Online Sales and Operations. Before that she served as chief of staff for the Treasury Department under President Clinton.

Facebook's other board members are: Zuckerberg, Marc L. Andreessen, Erskine Bowles, James W. Breyer, Donald Graham, Reed Hastings and Peter Thiel.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.