Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg (born August 28, 1969) is an American business executive, author, and philanthropist who served as chief operating officer of Meta Platforms from 2008 to 2022. A Harvard University graduate with degrees in economics and an MBA, she began her career as an economist at the World Bank and later as chief of staff to U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers before joining Google as vice president of global online sales and operations. At Meta, Sandberg oversaw business operations and scaled its advertising revenue model, which grew the company from a startup valued in the billions to a trillion-dollar enterprise amid rapid user expansion. She authored the 2013 bestseller Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, which encouraged women to seek leadership roles and inspired the creation of Lean In Circles for professional networking, though its emphasis on personal ambition over systemic barriers drew mixed empirical assessments of long-term workplace gender equity impacts. Sandberg's tenure at Meta was marked by significant achievements in monetization alongside controversies, including the platform's involvement in data privacy breaches like Cambridge Analytica and aggressive responses to reputational challenges through lobbying and content policies. She stepped down as COO in 2022 and left the board in 2024, shifting focus to philanthropy via LeanIn.Org and other initiatives.

As the eldest of three children, Sandberg grew up alongside her younger brother, David, and sister, Michelle. The family, which was Jewish, relocated to North Miami Beach, Florida, when she was two years old. Her parents were active in Jewish causes, including advocacy for Soviet Jewry, with involvement in rallies and community efforts dating back to the early 1970s.

Sandberg's maternal lineage included Eastern European Jewish immigrants; her great-great-grandmother had fled Lithuania amid historical pogroms. During her childhood in Florida, she attended North Miami Beach Senior High School, where she demonstrated academic excellence, later graduating in 1987. She has cited her mother and grandmother as early influences for balancing professional ambitions with family responsibilities.

On foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel, Sandberg has expressed strong Zionist views, publicly declaring in November 2024 at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America: "I am a proud Zionist and a proud Jew," emphasizing unity across party lines against antisemitism while criticizing its rise post-October 7, 2023. She has highlighted Hamas's use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in a November 2023 CNN opinion piece, arguing it as a universal condemnation transcending politics, and fronted a 2024 documentary on the topic. In a June 2024 Free Press interview, Sandberg admitted underestimating antisemitism's persistence among liberals and feminists, whom she accused of silence after the October 7 attacks, marking a shift in her public rhetoric toward critiquing elements within Democratic-leaning circles.