Meta Expands India Head Sandhya Devanathan's Role to Include Southeast Asia

By siliconindia  |  Thursday, 15 May 2025, 10:37:55 AM IST

Meta Expands India Head Sandhya Devanathan's Role to Include Southeast Asia
  • Sandhya Devanathan, Meta India head, now also leads Southeast Asia business
  • Devanathan joined Meta in 2016, led gaming vertical in Asia Pacific, key in Southeast Asia expansion (Singapore, Vietnam)
  • Over 22 years experience in banking, payments, technology; previous roles at Standard Chartered Bank and Citi
Meta has increased the role of its India head, Sandhya Devanathan, with her appointment to oversee the tech giant's Southeast Asia operations. The change in leadership comes as Meta's Asia-Pacific head, Dan Neary, is set to retire after 12 years.
Along with Devanathan's new position, Meta has promoted Benjamin Joe to regional vice president for the Asia-Pacific region from July. Joe, who joined Meta 14 years ago, was earlier the head of the company's Southeast Asia business and country director for Korea. Prior to joining Meta, he worked at McKinsey and IBM.
Announcing the leadership changes, Neary expressed confidence in the duo’s ability to steer Meta’s growth in the region. “Both Ben and Sandhya are exceptional leaders with strong track records. I’m confident that they will continue to drive growth and innovation for our valued partners and take our business to new heights”, he shared in a LinkedIn post on May 15.
Devanathan came on board at Meta in 2016 and has been instrumental in establishing the company's footprint in Singapore and Vietnam. Before being appointed vice president for Meta India in November 2022, she was heading the company's gaming vertical in the Asia-Pacific region one of Meta's largest business segments in the world.
With more than 22 years of experience in banking, payments, and technology, Devanathan has earlier worked with Citi and Standard Chartered Bank. She also sits on the board of Pepper Financial Services, a diversified financial services company.
In her new role, Devanathan will lead Meta's business in India and Southeast Asia a region that collectively accounts for a user base of more than a billion monthly users across Meta's apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. India continues to be an important market for the company, particularly in the domains of artificial intelligence and product innovation.
Recognizing the transition in leadership, Devanathan said, "I am grateful to Dan Neary for his leadership in driving the Asia-Pacific business and believe that moving forward, we will continue to foster growth and innovation for our cherished partners together with Ben. What does not change is our abiding commitment to serving you our partners and ongoing investments in products to drive growth". 

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