Who Is Javier 'Javi' Olivan? A Spaniard With 17 Followers On Instagram Who Replaces Sheryl Sandberg As Next Meta COO

Sandberg has more than 9.4 lakh followers on Instagram while Javier Olivan has a private Instagram account with 17 followers.

Olivan is currently the Chief Growth Officer at Meta. Image: Getty

New Delhi: Unlike Sheryl Sandberg, the outgoing Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Facebook's parent firm Meta, Javier “Javi” Olivan who will succeed Sandberg isn't half as "popular". Sandberg has more than 9.4 lakh followers on Instagram while Javier Olivan has a private Instagram account with 17 followers. The outgoing COO of Meta is also the author of the best-selling 2013 book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead”. 

Olivan is currently the Chief Growth Officer at Meta and has been credited with the social networking giant's global expansion and leading one of the most powerful teams within the company. He is a Spaniard and he was in the process of making a Spanish version of the social networking app when CEO Mark Zuckerberg reached out and asked him to head the company's international growth, reports Fast Company.

Unlike Meta's outgoing COO, Olivan has said that he would be less visible in a Facebook post. “With some exceptions, I don’t anticipate my role will have the same public-facing aspect, given that we have other leaders at Meta who are already responsible for that work."

"While I’ve worked extensively with many of our strategic external partners in my current role, and will continue to do so, I’ve primarily been behind-the-scenes, focused on working with our teams to build products that serve billions of people and millions of businesses around the world," Olivan added in his Facebook post which is the first public post on his Facebook profile since 2018.

Javi's quiet public persona does not go with his influence at Meta. The Spaniard is among a handful of top executives reporting to Zuckerberg, climbing near the top in his almost 15-year stint at the company, says a report by CNBC. "I’ve had the privilege of working with talented teams like Growth, Integrity, ABP, Infra, Corporate Development and many others - and I’m going to keep working with all these teams in my new role to ensure we keep building the company’s reputation for operational excellence and rigor," Olivan further noted.

Meanwhile, Sandberg, the No. 2 executive at Meta on Wednesday announced that she was stepping down as COO after 14 years and will be joining the growing list of female billionaires to focus on philanthropy. Sandberg helped transform the company from a startup to a digital advertising powerhouse while also assuming responsibility for some of its worst mistakes.

She had joined Facebook from Google in 2008, four years before the company went public. “When I took this job in 2008, I hoped I would be in this role for five years. Fourteen years later, it is time for me to write the next chapter of my life,” Sandberg wrote on her official Facebook handle.