Sheryl Sandberg Biography and Net Worth

Sheryl Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook. Before joining Facebook, she served as vice president of Google’s global online sales and operations.

Sandberg was born in 1969 in Washington D.C. Her family moved to North Miami Beach, Florida when she was two years old, and she went on to graduate from high school there. She then enrolled at Harvard College where she studied economics.  

While completing her undergraduate degree, Sandberg conducted research with economist Lawrence Summers, a key mentor early in her career. Sandberg graduated in 1991—summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and the top student in economics. Summers then hired her to work at the World Bank, where she stayed for a year before returning to Harvard for her M.B.A.

After completing her M.B.A. in 1995, Sandberg worked for McKinsey & Company for one year as a management consultant. She then joined Summers again, this time as his chief of staff while he served as President Clinton’s treasury secretary.

Following the 2000 election, Sandberg moved to Silicon Valley where she would begin to make her way in the tech industry. She was hired at Google as general manager of its business unit in 2001, taking over the company's four-person ad program. Sandberg ended up growing the team to 4,000.

Google experienced tremendous sales growth during Sandberg’s seven-year tenure, and in 2007, Mark Zuckerberg began to take notice. He recruited Sandberg to be Facebook’s chief operations officer, and she left Google to take the role in 2008. 

Profitability has been Sandberg’s focus at Facebook. In her position as COO, she carried the company from a $56 million loss position in 2008 to $18.5 billion in profits in 2019. By positioning the company as a platform for small business advertising, she grew ad revenue by 27% in 2019, to $69.7 billion. Today she oversees Facebook’s sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications. 

In 2012, she was appointed to Facebook's board of directors—the first woman to serve there. She has written two books, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, with co-author Nell Scovell (2013) and Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy with co-author Adam Grant (2017). 

Sandberg is well-known for her work advocating for women's rights in the workplace. In her best-selling book, Lean In, she shares her personal work experience as well as advice for women looking to excel in their fields. Sandberg also started the Lean In Foundation, later renamed the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring and supporting women to achieve their goals.

She and her husband, David Goldberg, who died tragically in 2015, signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment by billionaires to donate at least half of their fortune before or upon their death. 

Sandberg is currently engaged to Tom Bernthal, and she has two children from her marriage to Goldberg. Sandberg lives in Menlo Park, California and has a net worth reported at over $1.6 billion.