After more than a decade shaping one of the world's most consequential digital frontiers, Sandhya Devanathan has stepped away from Meta, closing a chapter that began when the company was still finding its footing across India and Southeast Asia. Her departure marks not merely a personnel change but a quiet inflection point — the kind that arrives when an era of rapid expansion gives way to the harder, subtler work of consolidation and reinvention. In a region where Meta has become infrastructure as much as platform, the question of who stewards that presence carries weight beyond any single ex
Meta's India and SEA VP Devanathan exits after decade-long tenure
More than anything, I will miss the people
Mark
Why does Devanathan's exit matter? She's one executive among thousands at Meta.
Mimi
She wasn't just any executive. She built Meta's entire regional business model for India and Southeast Asia over a decade. When she arrived in 2016, Meta was still figuring out how to operate in these markets. By the time she left, WhatsApp was handling government services in India, small businesses across the region were using Meta's tools to sell, and creators had built livelihoods on the platform. That's not a small thing.
Luke
But the source doesn't actually say what her specific accomplishments were in numbers. We know she oversaw these initiatives, but we don't know if they succeeded, how many people benefited, or what revenue they generated. That's worth noting.
Mark
What about the timing? Why now?
Mimi
The source doesn't say. She just called it a bittersweet decision and moved on to her next chapter. We don't know if she was pushed out, if she chose to leave, or if there was some internal shift that prompted it.
Luke
Exactly. And that's a real gap. Her promotion to the combined India and Southeast Asia role was only in June 2025—just over a year ago. That's a pretty quick turnaround from promotion to exit. The source doesn't explain whether that's normal or unusual.
Mark
Is this part of a larger pattern at Meta?
Mimi
It does seem like it. Tawana Murphy Burnett left after a decade, Jon Kee moved to a startup. These are senior people with deep regional knowledge walking out the door.
Luke
But again, we don't know the reasons. Are they leaving because Meta's strategy is shifting? Because they got better offers? Because the company is contracting? The source treats these as separate data points without connecting them to a larger narrative. That's honest reporting, but it also means we're seeing exits without understanding the cause.
Mark
What did she actually do for Meta's business?
Mimi
She oversaw the expansion of Meta's platforms as commerce and marketing channels. That's the core of it. Businesses learned to sell on Facebook and Instagram. Creators built audiences. Governments used WhatsApp. It's not flashy, but it's foundational.
Luke
But we don't have numbers on any of that. No revenue figures, no user growth, no business impact metrics. We know she was responsible for these areas, but we don't know if they grew or shrank under her leadership. That's a real limitation of the reporting.
Le Pouls
- Devanathan's exit removes one of Meta's most experienced regional architects at a moment when the company's Asia Pacific strategy is visibly in flux.
- Her decade-long arc — from group director in Singapore to VP spanning both India and Southeast Asia — mirrors the region's own transformation from digital frontier to digital foundation.
- She is not alone in leaving: Tawana Murphy Burnett and Jon Kee have also departed, signaling a broader wave of senior exits rather than a single isolated transition.
- Meta has named a successor for Murphy Burnett's role but has issued no public statement on Devanathan's departure, leaving a conspicuous silence around its most senior regional vacancy.
- The company now faces the challenge of sustaining momentum across markets where it has become embedded in government services, small business commerce, and creator ecosystems — without the leaders who built those relationships.
After more than a decade shaping one of the world's most consequential digital frontiers, Sandhya Devanathan has stepped away from Meta, closing a chapter that began when the company was still finding its footing across India and Southeast Asia. Her departure marks not merely a personnel change but a quiet inflection point — the kind that arrives when an era of rapid expansion gives way to the harder, subtler work of consolidation and reinvention. In a region where Meta has become infrastructure as much as platform, the question of who stewards that presence carries weight beyond any single executive.
Sandhya Devanathan announced her departure from Meta on LinkedIn after more than a decade with the company, describing the decision as bittersweet. She joined in January 2016 as a group director for Southeast Asia based in Singapore — at a time when Meta had roughly 300 employees in the city-state — and rose steadily through roles spanning ecommerce, travel, financial services, country leadership in Singapore and Vietnam, and Asia Pacific gaming before taking the helm of India operations in early 2023.
In June 2025, she was elevated to lead both India and Southeast Asia together, the position she held until her departure. The scope of what she oversaw during that period was substantial: WhatsApp-based government services in India, small-business programs across Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, and startup ecosystem initiatives in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In her farewell post, she reflected on a shift from conversations about digital transformation to simply living inside a digital world that had become the default fabric of commerce and communication.
Before Meta, Devanathan spent more than fifteen years in financial services — at Citi and then Standard Chartered — building expertise in consumer banking, payments, and retail products across Asia. That grounding likely informed how she approached Meta's deepening push into commerce and payments across the region.
Her exit is part of a wider pattern. Tawana Murphy Burnett, who led Meta's top accounts and agencies work for Asia Pacific, also departed after a decade with the company, with Cindy Tan named as her successor. Jon Kee, another former Meta executive, recently joined creator marketing platform Fabulate. Together, the departures point to a period of leadership transition as Meta recalibrates its regional posture. Meta has not named a successor for Devanathan, nor issued a public statement about her leaving.
Sandhya Devanathan is leaving Meta after more than a decade, stepping away from one of the company's most consequential regional roles at a moment when the social media giant's footprint across India and Southeast Asia has become central to its business. She announced the departure on LinkedIn, describing it as a bittersweet choice after a journey that began in January 2016, when she joined Meta's Singapore office as a group director for Southeast Asia—back when the company had roughly 300 employees in the city-state.
Devanathan's arc through Meta traces the company's own transformation across the region. She started by overseeing ecommerce, travel, and financial services for Southeast Asia, then moved into country leadership roles in Singapore and Vietnam before shifting into gaming. In April 2020, she became vice president for Asia Pacific gaming, steering Meta's gaming business across the region until January 2023. She then took the helm of India operations as vice president, a role she held for more than two years before being elevated to lead both India and Southeast Asia together in June 2025—the position she held until now.
What made Devanathan's tenure significant was the sheer scale of change she navigated. When she arrived in 2016, the conversation around digital platforms in the region was still largely about transformation and adoption. By the time she departed, Meta had woven itself into the fabric of how businesses, governments, and creators operated across the region. She oversaw initiatives that ranged from WhatsApp-based government services in India to small-business programs in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, and startup ecosystems in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In her farewell post, she reflected on this shift—from talking about digital transformation to living inside a digital ecosystem that was now simply how commerce and communication worked.
Before Meta, Devanathan spent more than fifteen years in financial services, building expertise in consumer banking and payments. She joined Citi in 2000 as a product manager for Citibank Online and progressed through roles in lending, customer retention, and sales. In 2009, she moved to Standard Chartered, where she held several managing director positions in Singapore, overseeing credit cards, unsecured loans, retail banking, and payment products. That background in financial services likely shaped how she approached Meta's expansion into commerce and payments across Asia.
Her departure is not isolated. Tawana Murphy Burnett, who led Meta's top accounts and agencies work for Asia Pacific, also left after more than a decade with the company. Murphy Burnett had joined Meta in 2015 and moved to Singapore in 2019, taking on the regional accounts role in 2023 before departing. Meta appointed Cindy Tan to succeed her. Jon Kee, another former Meta executive, recently joined Fabulate, a creator marketing platform, as commercial director for Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea. The exits suggest a period of leadership transition as Meta recalibrates its regional strategy.
In her farewell, Devanathan emphasized what she would miss most: the people. She thanked colleagues, businesses, ecosystem partners, nonprofits, and creators across the region, reflecting on the teams she had built and the work they had delivered together. Meta has not yet issued a public statement about her departure or named a successor.
Citations marquantes
She described her departure as a bittersweet decision to move on to her next chapter— Sandhya Devanathan, in her LinkedIn announcement
She reflected on the shift from digital transformation conversations in 2016 to a deeply embedded digital ecosystem today— Sandhya Devanathan, in her farewell post
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