Sheryl Sandberg is leaving Meta's board of directors

Sheryl Sandberg said Wednesday that she would not run for re-election to Meta's board of directors in May, ending her 14½-year tenure in a formal role at the social networking company.

Ms Sandberg had remained on the nine-seat board after stepping down as Meta's chief operating officer in 2022. In a post on her personal Facebook page on Wednesday, she said she would still be an advisor to the company and would “always be there.” to help the Meta teams.”

“The Meta business is strong and well positioned for the future, so this feels like the right time to step away,” she wrote.

Commenting on her Facebook page, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Meta, said Ms Sandberg had been “instrumental” in driving his company's success. She was elected to the Facebook board of directors 2012when the company was under fire for having too few women on the board of directors.

Mr. Zuckerberg hired Ms. Sandberg in 2008 — when the company was still known as Facebook — to become its first chief operating officer. She oversaw Facebook's first foray into digital advertising, courting big brands and small businesses to expand it into a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

Ms. Sandberg became one of the most prominent female executives in the business world and eventually wrote a best-selling book, “Lean In,” about her experiences.

But she also faced criticism during one of Facebook's most tumultuous periods. Russians manipulated the company's platforms to spread disinformation during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and its privacy and data collection practices came under regulatory scrutiny.