Who was Facebook's first chief operating officer?

Facebook’s first chief operating officer was Sheryl Sandberg.

Sandberg joined Facebook in March 2008 after working at Google, where she led online sales and operations for advertising and consumer products. Mark Zuckerberg had met her at a late-2007 Christmas party and came to see her as a strong fit for a role Facebook had not originally been formally searching to fill.

As COO, Sandberg focused heavily on turning Facebook’s enormous audience into a sustainable business. She helped shape the company’s advertising strategy, sales organization, and operational structure. Facebook became profitable in 2010, and Sandberg was widely credited with building the advertising business that supported its later growth.

She also became the first woman elected to Facebook’s board of directors and co-founded LeanIn.Org. Sandberg remained COO after Facebook became Meta Platforms in 2021, leaving the role in 2022. Chris Cox was a senior Facebook executive, Eduardo Saverin was a co-founder, and Mark Zuckerberg was CEO—not the company’s first COO.