Sheryl Sandberg | Success Story Of Meta’s Former COO

Sheryl Sandberg is an American business executive, philanthropist, and billionaire. She was born on 28 August 1969 in Washington, United States. Sheryl used to be the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Meta platforms but she stepped down from the position in August 2022. Before working at Facebook, she used to be the vice president of global online sales and operations at Google and was involved in its philanthropic arm Google.org. In 2012, Sheryl Sandberg was on the Time 100 list of most influential people.

Early Life

Sheryl Sandberg was born on 28 August 1969 in Washington DC, United States of America. Her parents are Adele, a french teacher in a college, and Joel Sandberg, an ophthalmologist. She is the oldest of the three children born to the couple.

When Sheryl was two years old, her family moved to North Miami Beach, Florida. She went to North Miami Beach High School. In 1987, Sheryl attended Harvard University. She graduated in 1991 summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts in economics.

In 1993, Sheryl Sandberg enrolled at Harvard Business School and in 1995 she earned her MBA with the highest distinction. During her first year of business school, she earned a fellowship.

Career Beginnings

Sheryl Sandberg did her graduation from Harvard Business School in 1995, and she started working as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company for one year. 

She also worked for Lawrence Summers, who was then serving as the United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton. Sheryl worked there from 1996 to 2001.

In 2001, Sheryl Sandberg joined Google. Her job there was to take care of online sales of Google’s advertising and publishing products and Google Book Search. While at Google, Sheryl raised the ads and sales team from four people to 4000 people.

Joining Facebook/Meta Platforms

In late 2007, Sheryl Sandberg met Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and Cheif Executive Officer of Facebook at a Christmas party hosted by Dan Rosensweig. Mark was not in search of a COO but still thought that Sheryl was a “perfect fit” for the role. In 2008, she officially joined Facebook and left Google.

After joining Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg’s complete focus was on how to make the company profitable. She made the company rely on advertising and by 2010, Facebook was a very profitable business. 

In 2012, Sheryl became the eighth member and the first woman on Facebook’s board of directors. 

On 1 June 2022, Sheryl Sandberg announced she would be leaving Meta as COO in the fall of 2022 but would remain on the board of directors. Stating a reason for stepping down, she said “it is time for me to write the next chapter of my life.”

Personal Life

Sheryl Sandberg and Brian Kraff were married in 1993 but got a divorce after a year. In 2004, she tied the knot with Dave Goldberg, then an executive with Yahoo! and later CEO of SurveyMonkey. Unfortunately, on 1 May 2015, Dave Goldberg passed away due to arrhythmia.

In May 2019, Sheryl Sandberg and Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick have gone their separate ways after three years of dating. On 3 February 2020, she announced her engagement on Facebook to Kelton Global CEO Tom Bernthal. The couple was married in August 2022.

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