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 * 06-01-22


WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT JAVIER OLIVAN, FACEBOOK-PARENT META’S NEW COO


FORMERLY THE COMPANY’S CHIEF GROWTH OFFICER, OLIVAN SPEARHEADED ONE OF THE MOST
POWERFUL TEAMS WITHIN THE TECH GIANT.

[Photos: Dima Solomin/Unsplash; Meta]
 * 
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 * 
 * 

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By Chris Morris3 minute Read

As chief operating officer of Meta, Sheryl Sandberg was one of the company’s
most prominent voices for more than a decade. Sandberg announced her departure
from Meta (formerly Facebook) on Wednesday, and longtime employee Javier Olivan
will now assume the COO role. But don’t expect to see as much of Olivan.




Whereas Sandberg, in many ways, was partners with founder Mark Zuckerberg, the
COO role is being reworked into a “more traditional COO role where [Olivan] will
be focused internally and operationally,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.

Olivan confirmed that he’d be less visible in a subsequent Facebook post of his
own, writing, “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.”

Despite those changes, the COO role remains a critical one. And to most, Olivan
is an unknown; it’s time for Facebook-watchers to get to know Javi, as he’s
affectionately called.




ACCUMULATING USERS AND POWER

Olivan joined Facebook in 2007, right after picking up his MBA at Stanford
University—at which point, the company had just 40 million users, the majority
of whom were in the U.S. He was a founding member of the company’s growth team,
which was dedicated to scaling up Facebook’s membership base. He proved more
than capable of the task at hand.

The growth team quickly became a powerful operation within the company,
generally tapped when Zuckerberg saw high potential in a feature. That let
Olivan accumulate power within the company.

That team was one of the first to have a data-driven approach to growth. Today,
the growth team, which Olivan heads, has tremendous influence within Facebook.
Even social-good projects now have metrics attached to them, rather than
focusing solely on their aspirational qualities—a direct result of
growth-oriented thinking.



The growth team also was responsible for steering Facebook toward acquiring
Snaptu, an Israeli startup that created a stripped-down version of Facebook that
could run on older phones and didn’t require a high-speed network. That tech
eventually became Facebook Lite, which has been key to the company’s trajectory.
As of 2017, Facebook had 200 million Lite users in such countries as Vietnam,
Bangladesh, and Nigeria.

Since May of 2018, Olivan’s title has been chief growth officer.

“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,” he wrote in Wednesday’s Facebook post. “As Meta continues to grow,
one of my biggest priorities will be to ensure that the business products and
partnerships sides of our company are in lockstep. I think these orgs can
continue learning a lot from each other and will benefit from being even more
tightly linked.”




BEYOND META

Big leaps aren’t something new for Olivan. As a child in Spain, he would
paraglide in the Pyrenees mountains, he told The Alumni Society, a network of
Latino leaders. Before he made his way to Facebook, he dreamed of being an
engineer, an ambition that led him to a job at Siemens, where he gathered an
interest in mobile communication; and later to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in
Japan, where he focused on wireless video.

Like so many, he was intrigued by the images of optimism and pragmatism
emanating from Silicon Valley in the early aughts. He enrolled at Stanford in
2005,  during which time he became an early user of Facebook (back when the site
still required a college email address to sign up). He was in the process of
creating a Spanish version of the social network when Zuckerberg reached out and
asked him to head international growth.

Like many longtime Facebook employees, he has also dabbled in angel
investing and was recently involved in a Series A round for Yaba, a brand
amplifier startup. Other investments include payment API startup Reloadly and
tutoring tool GoPeer.



And while he’s not paragliding as much these days, if you were to peek into
Olivan’s office in Meta, there’s a good chance you’d see his surfboard leaning
against the wall. With his new COO responsibilities, though, it might be a while
before he’s able to catch the next wave. 





ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Morris is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience.
Learn more at chrismorrisjournalist.com.

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TO HELP DISPLACED UKRAINIANS, A NEW CAMPAIGN WILL SEND THOUSANDS OF BIKES TO
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Impact


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THING

Impact


HOW MUCH COULD RENEWABLE SOURCES LIKE SOLAR AND THERMAL SHAPE OUR FUTURE ENERGY
NEEDS?


NEWS

News


COULD HARSH PARENTING MAKE CHILDREN HYPERACTIVE? HERE’S WHAT BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH
SAYS

News


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SINKHOLE

News


TOBACCO COMPANIES SAY THEY DON’T ADVERTISE TO CHILDREN, BUT THIS DAMNING REPORT
SUGGESTS OTHERWISE


CO.DESIGN

Co.Design


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Work Life


WHY THIS LEADER IS TOTALLY COOL WITH HIS TOP PLAYERS MOVING ON

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FAST COMPANY

Follow
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 * 
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Login
 * Co.Design
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 * Podcasts
 * Video
 * Recommender
 * Innovation Festival 360IF360
 * Subscribe
 * 
 * FastCo Works
    * AWS
    * Genpact
    * IBM


 * HOMEPAGE


 * CO.DESIGN


 * TECH


 * WORK LIFE


 * NEWS


 * IMPACT


 * PODCASTS


 * VIDEO


 * RECOMMENDER


 * INNOVATION FESTIVAL 360


 * SUBSCRIBE

Help Center
fastco works


 * AWS


 * DELOITTE


 * DEPT


 * ELEVATE PRIZE


 * EY


 * IBM


 * KLARNA


 * VISA


 * FASTCO WORKS
   
   An award-winning team of journalists, designers, and videographers who tell
   brand stories through Fast Company's distinctive lens

FC Executive Board
collections


 * FAST GOVERNMENT
   
   The future of innovation and technology in government for the greater good


 * MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES
   
   Fast Company's annual ranking of businesses that are making an outsize impact


 * MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE
   
   Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways


 * WORLD CHANGING IDEAS
   
   New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic
   system


 * INNOVATION BY DESIGN
   
   Celebrating the best ideas in business

Newsletter
Events


 * INNOVATION FESTIVAL

Courses and LearningAdvertiseCurrent Issue
Current Issue
SUBSCRIBE
Follow us:

advertisement

advertisement

 * 06-01-22


WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT JAVIER OLIVAN, FACEBOOK-PARENT META’S NEW COO


FORMERLY THE COMPANY’S CHIEF GROWTH OFFICER, OLIVAN SPEARHEADED ONE OF THE MOST
POWERFUL TEAMS WITHIN THE TECH GIANT.

[Photos: Dima Solomin/Unsplash; Meta]
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

By Chris Morris3 minute Read

As chief operating officer of Meta, Sheryl Sandberg was one of the company’s
most prominent voices for more than a decade. Sandberg announced her departure
from Meta (formerly Facebook) on Wednesday, and longtime employee Javier Olivan
will now assume the COO role. But don’t expect to see as much of Olivan.

advertisement

advertisement



Whereas Sandberg, in many ways, was partners with founder Mark Zuckerberg, the
COO role is being reworked into a “more traditional COO role where [Olivan] will
be focused internally and operationally,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.

Olivan confirmed that he’d be less visible in a subsequent Facebook post of his
own, writing, “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.”

Despite those changes, the COO role remains a critical one. And to most, Olivan
is an unknown; it’s time for Facebook-watchers to get to know Javi, as he’s
affectionately called.

advertisement



ACCUMULATING USERS AND POWER

Olivan joined Facebook in 2007, right after picking up his MBA at Stanford
University—at which point, the company had just 40 million users, the majority
of whom were in the U.S. He was a founding member of the company’s growth team,
which was dedicated to scaling up Facebook’s membership base. He proved more
than capable of the task at hand.

The growth team quickly became a powerful operation within the company,
generally tapped when Zuckerberg saw high potential in a feature. That let
Olivan accumulate power within the company.

That team was one of the first to have a data-driven approach to growth. Today,
the growth team, which Olivan heads, has tremendous influence within Facebook.
Even social-good projects now have metrics attached to them, rather than
focusing solely on their aspirational qualities—a direct result of
growth-oriented thinking.

advertisement


The growth team also was responsible for steering Facebook toward acquiring
Snaptu, an Israeli startup that created a stripped-down version of Facebook that
could run on older phones and didn’t require a high-speed network. That tech
eventually became Facebook Lite, which has been key to the company’s trajectory.
As of 2017, Facebook had 200 million Lite users in such countries as Vietnam,
Bangladesh, and Nigeria.

Since May of 2018, Olivan’s title has been chief growth officer.

“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,” he wrote in Wednesday’s Facebook post. “As Meta continues to grow,
one of my biggest priorities will be to ensure that the business products and
partnerships sides of our company are in lockstep. I think these orgs can
continue learning a lot from each other and will benefit from being even more
tightly linked.”

advertisement



BEYOND META

Big leaps aren’t something new for Olivan. As a child in Spain, he would
paraglide in the Pyrenees mountains, he told The Alumni Society, a network of
Latino leaders. Before he made his way to Facebook, he dreamed of being an
engineer, an ambition that led him to a job at Siemens, where he gathered an
interest in mobile communication; and later to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in
Japan, where he focused on wireless video.

Like so many, he was intrigued by the images of optimism and pragmatism
emanating from Silicon Valley in the early aughts. He enrolled at Stanford in
2005,  during which time he became an early user of Facebook (back when the site
still required a college email address to sign up). He was in the process of
creating a Spanish version of the social network when Zuckerberg reached out and
asked him to head international growth.

Like many longtime Facebook employees, he has also dabbled in angel
investing and was recently involved in a Series A round for Yaba, a brand
amplifier startup. Other investments include payment API startup Reloadly and
tutoring tool GoPeer.

advertisement


And while he’s not paragliding as much these days, if you were to peek into
Olivan’s office in Meta, there’s a good chance you’d see his surfboard leaning
against the wall. With his new COO responsibilities, though, it might be a while
before he’s able to catch the next wave. 


advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

advertisement



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Morris is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience.
Learn more at chrismorrisjournalist.com.

More




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IMPACT

Impact


TO HELP DISPLACED UKRAINIANS, A NEW CAMPAIGN WILL SEND THOUSANDS OF BIKES TO
LVIV

Impact


HE QUIT GOOGLE TO WORK ON CLIMATE CHANGE. NOW, HE’S HELPING OTHERS DO THE SAME
THING

Impact


HOW MUCH COULD RENEWABLE SOURCES LIKE SOLAR AND THERMAL SHAPE OUR FUTURE ENERGY
NEEDS?


NEWS

News


COULD HARSH PARENTING MAKE CHILDREN HYPERACTIVE? HERE’S WHAT BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH
SAYS

News


630 FEET BELOW THE EARTH IN CHINA, AN ANCIENT FOREST BLOOMS AT THE BOTTOM OF A
SINKHOLE

News


TOBACCO COMPANIES SAY THEY DON’T ADVERTISE TO CHILDREN, BUT THIS DAMNING REPORT
SUGGESTS OTHERWISE


CO.DESIGN

Co.Design


IS A MASS TIMBER CONSTRUCTION BOOM COMING TO AMERICA?

Co.Design


18% OF OFFICES ARE VACANT. HERE’S A BRILLIANT IDEA FOR HOW TO USE THAT SPACE

Co.Design


AIR TRAVEL HAS CHANGED DRAMATICALLY. THESE DELTA TERMINALS GOT A $12 BILLION
UPGRADE TO KEEP UP


WORK LIFE

Work Life


EXCLUSIVE: MODERN FERTILITY ANNOUNCES A NEW CAMPAIGN FEATURING FEMALE ATHLETES

Work Life


A TEAM SHAKEUP REQUIRES AN OPEN CULTURE. HERE’S HOW TO BE MORE CANDID

Work Life


WHY THIS LEADER IS TOTALLY COOL WITH HIS TOP PLAYERS MOVING ON

 * Advertise
 * Privacy Policy
 * Terms
 * Notice of Collection
 * Do Not Sell My Data
 * Permissions
 * Help Center
 * About Us
 * Site Map
 * Fast Company & Inc © 2022 Mansueto Ventures, LLC
 * 





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