Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has joined the board of SurveyMonkey, the company that was run by her late husband. In a press release on Monday, Sandberg said she is joining the board to carry forward the vision of her husband David Goldberg, who led the company for the past six years before his death two months ago.
Facebook COO dedicated to her husband’s vision
In a statement, Sandberg said that she is looking forward to working with the board and the team “to realize Dave’s vision of building a lasting company that will impact the way we all do business for years to come.”
Sandberg and Goldberg started dating in 2002 and got married two years later. In her book Lean In, Sandberg described how her husband’s support helped her accomplish her career goals while having a family too. Also Goldberg was an honest supporter in her effort towards equal pay and treatment for women in the workplace.
The privately held company, valued at $2 billion, is still in search of a permanent substitute for Goldberg, who helped in setting a benchmark service to compare customer and employee satisfaction among competitors. Goldberg, 47, died in May after falling from a treadmill while exercising on vacation. Before joining as SurveyMonkey’s CEO, Goldberg had worked with companies like Capitol Records and Yahoo.
SurveyMonkey adds more executives
On Monday, the online questionnaire company said it is adding new leaders after Goldberg’s death, including Sandberg and GoPro executive Zander Lurie, who will be appointed interim chief executive. Also Lurie will handle the role of permanent executive chairman at SurveyMonkey.
SurveyMonkey also appointed David Ebersman, a former colleague of Sandberg’s at Facebook, and the chief executive officer of behavioral health company Lyra health. When he was Facebook’s CFO, Ebersman guided the social network through its initial public offering (IPO) in 2012.
After Tiger Global Management, Sandberg is the second biggest shareholder in SurveyMonkey. Other sponsors for the company include Google and Spectrum Equity. SurveyMonkey, which has an employee strength of 500, is used by over 20 million people worldwide. With 473,000 surveys taking place every month, the service receives 2.8 million survey responses on a daily basis.
