Her title at Facebook is VP-global ad sales, and she works with
another powerful woman, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating
officer. Ms. Everson made some noise when she left an equally
impressive position at Microsoft after only nine months. She was
reportedly recruited by Steve Ballmer himself, and her bolt to the
social network fueled rumors of a legal dispute between the old
tech giant and the new-school behemoth. But such chatter was
squashed given the financial ties between the two -- Microsoft is a
major investor in Facebook, and Microsoft's Bing just announced a
deeper integration of Facebook's features in its search
functions.
Ms. Everson, who earned an MBA from Harvard in 1999 and has been
a "mad woman" for almost two decades, said she never meant to be in
advertising. She realized she loved marketing while at MTV , where
she spearheaded a $500 million multiyear advertising deal with
Microsoft in 2007.
"I believe that marketing can make a difference in making you
choose one product or service vs. another," Ms. Everson said.
"Selling more of something is the lifeline of businesses and being
at the center of helping my clients achieve their objectives is
intellectually rewarding and certainly gratifying."
She said her favorite memory from MTV is going to a private
concert by Wyclef Jean -- only 75 people attended -- where Wyclef
rapped a song about her twin daughters. Ms. Everson keeps her work
close -- she even got married at Disney World with Minnie, Mickey
and Pluto as guests. "What Disney taught me early on in my career
was what it means to be a brand and the importance of staying true
to your values."
A resident of New Jersey, Ms. Everson works at Facebook's New
York office, where she can stay close to her longtime friends on
Madison Avenue, a major reason she was hired by Facebook. With 300
people working for her, she is focused on top strategic accounts
and global agencies that have felt a bit ignored by Facebook until
now. One of her team's efforts is Facebook Studio, a dedicated site
where agencies can share and discuss creative work for social
media. The first agency/Facebook hackathon was held May 12 in New
York.
As Facebook becomes more and more a crucial media outlet for
advertisers, Ms. Everson said many companies are eager to partner
with it, and they "are asking for help in how to bring their brands
to life." She is more than happy to show them.
~ ~ ~
CORRECTION: An earlier
version of this story incorrectly stated that Ms. Everson reports
to Sheryl Sandberg. She reports to David Fischer, Facebook's
VP-advertising and global operations.
