By SHAYNDI RAICE And JOANN S. LUBLIN
Sheryl Sandberg, the No. 2 executive at Facebook Inc., has made it a mission to tell women that they can have it all. Now Ms. Sandberg has added one more résumé item to help her lead by example: a board seat at the social network.
On Monday, Facebook named Ms. Sandberg, 42 years old, as the eighth member of its board. In doing so, the Menlo Park, Calif., company answered criticism by diversifying its all-male board with a high-profile female executive.
Her appointment comes amid intensified efforts to increase the number of women on American corporate boards. Their ranks have grown fairly slowly for years. Women accounted for about 16% of directorships at Fortune 500 companies last year, according to Catalyst, a New York group that researches women's issues. On the other hand, big businesses rarely put more than one insider on their boards.
Facebook's move gives Ms. Sandbergâ€"who is frequently on the wish list of companies seeking to name a new chief executiveâ€"a voice at the highest echelons of the social network.
In a statement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg played up Ms. Sandberg's importance to the company. He called her his "partner" and said she has been essential to Facebook's "growth and success."
Ms. Sandberg, who joined Facebook as its chief operating officer from Google Inc. in 2008, was deeply involved in the social network's recent initial public offering and has helped build the company's online ad business.
Sheryl Sandberg July 2009 Interview
Ms. Sandberg said in a statement, "I feel fortunate to be part of a company that is having such a profound impact in the world." Ms. Sandberg declined to be interviewed.
Ms. Sandberg, who is married with two young children, has been particularly vocal against women who sit out potential job promotions because they think they can't have a demanding career and a family.
Facebook has come under fire from some activist institutional investors for having no women on the board.
In February, Anne Sheehan, California State Teacher's Retirement System's director of corporate governance, wrote a letter to Mr. Zuckerberg saying, "We are disappointed that Facebook's board will not have any women."
The letter said evidence has shown that boards perform better when they are more diverse.
Ms. Sandberg's board appointment on Monday alleviates that image but didn't quell all the critics. Nell Minow, an author of several governance books, said since Mr. Zuckerberg holds about 57% of Facebook's voting power, the company "needs to go the extra mile to demonstrate its (board's) independence."'
In choosing Ms. Sandberg, Facebook "is reaffirming its commitment to clubbiness with this choice because she's an insider,'' Ms. Minow said.
Still, the appointment is likely to have the effect of keeping Ms. Sandbergâ€"who is worth $1.4 billion from her 44 million shares of Facebook restricted shares and optionsâ€"deeply vested in the social network.
Ms. Sandberg has been wooed for CEO jobs in the tech and media worlds, say recruiters.
She appeared on a wishlist for the New York Times Co. chief executive position, according to a person familiar with the matter, which the company has been trying to fill since its former CEO retired in December. But "she was never approached" by the Times, another person familiar with the matter said.
"She has to be in the top 1% of desirable board members out there," said Martha Josephson, a friend of Ms. Sandberg's and a partner at the recruiting firm Egon Zehnder International.
It's unclear if Ms. Sandberg has considered other jobs given that her wealth and reputation remain closely tied to Facebook.
Ms. Sandberg hasn't pursued other opportunities because her Facebook job "is not done yet,'' said John Barrett, managing director of the digital media practice for recruiters Cook Associates in New York. "If her goal is to be the CEO somewhere someday, this (board seat) certainly rounds her out,'' he added.
Ms. Sandberg's time at Facebook hasn't always been smooth. At a commencement speech at Barnard College last year, Ms. Sandberg recounted her early time at Facebook when bloggers criticized her.
"Anonymous sources called me a liar, two-faced, about to ruin Facebook forever," she said. "I cried some when I was alone." She added, "In the end, my best and only response was just to do my job and do it well."
Her board appointment also coincides with the publication of a book that characterizes Facebook's early history as something of a frat-like boys club. "The Boy Kings," by early Facebook employee Katherine Losse, describes Mr. Zuckerberg's introduction of Ms. Sandberg to fellow staffers in 2008 as a painfully awkward scenario, with the CEO commenting on the quality of her skin. Facebook declined to comment on the book.
Facebook's board currently includes Mr. Zuckerberg, venture capitalists Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel and Jim Breyer, Washington Post Co. CEO Donald Graham, Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings, and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles.
â€"John Letzing and Keach Hagey contributed to this article.Write to Shayndi Raice at shayndi.raice@wsj.com
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