Facebook’s Board of Directors has just received a splash of diversity as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has just been named to the previously all-male board. Sandberg joins seven men –
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Washington Post Company CEO Donald Graham, venture capitalist and investor James Breyer, Mark Zuckerberg, Mosaic co-author Marc Andreessen, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, and former UNC system President Erskine Bowles.
“Sheryl has been my partner in running Facebook and has been central to our growth and success over the years,” said Mark Zuckerberg. “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.”
Sandberg currently deals with Facebook’s business operations, including sales, marketing, legal, HR, and public policy.
“Facebook is working every day to make the world more open and connected,” Sandberg said. “It’s a mission that I’m deeply passionate about, and I feel fortunate to be part of a company that is having such a profound impact in the world.”
For a while, Facebook has faced pressure from some activists who felt that Facebook’s all-male board sent out a bad message about the company. Organizations like women’s group Ultraviolet said that “the fact that a company as large as Facebook with a massive global reach does not have a single woman on their board is nothing short of shameful.”
A campaign called “Face It” was launched with the specific purpose of diversifying the Board:
“We believe that this board of white men should include women of all colors,” read their mission page.
Now, Facebook’s Board has a woman – but as these groups are sure to point out, it’s still lacking in racial diversity