In the rapidly evolving landscape of tech giants, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) continues to shape the digital world under the financial stewardship of Susan Li, who serves as the company’s Chief Financial Officer in 2025. Her journey to becoming one of Silicon Valley’s most influential financial executives offers valuable insights into leadership, career development, and the changing face of corporate finance in the technology sector.
Susan Li: Meta’s Financial Architect
Susan Li has been Meta’s Chief Financial Officer since November 2022, making her one of the youngest individuals to hold such a prominent position at a major public technology company, and she is often referred to as Meta’s CFO. As of May 2025, she continues to guide Meta’s financial strategy during a period of significant transformation and investment in artificial intelligence technologies.
Li’s role extends beyond traditional financial management, as she actively engages with the board of directors to drive strategic initiatives. As CFO, Susan Li leads both the finance and facilities teams at Meta, overseeing crucial aspects of the company’s operations while helping to shape its strategic direction as the chief executive. Her responsibilities encompass financial strategy and planning, operations management, investor relations, and strategic decision-making-all vital components for Meta’s continued growth and innovation.
In the first quarter of 2025, under Li’s financial leadership, Meta projected Q2 2025 revenue between $42.5–$45.5 billion, demonstrating the company’s strong market position despite ongoing regulatory challenges, particularly in Europe. During this period, Li emphasized that expense growth was being carefully managed even as capital expenditures increased to support Meta’s long-term AI infrastructure, reflecting her strategic approach as CFO of Meta.
Background and Early Career
Susan Li’s remarkable journey began in Chengdu, China, where she was born before immigrating to the United States at the age of two. Her family settled in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where her father became a professor at Portland State University. This immigrant experience and her parents’ emphasis on education helped shape Li’s future success after she immigrated to the U.S.
Li’s academic and professional trajectory has been nothing short of extraordinary, particularly as she joined Meta during a pivotal time in the tech industry. A precocious child, Susan Li entered high school at the remarkably young age of 11 and began her college education at Stanford University when she was just 15 years old. At Stanford, she pursued a dual degree program, earning both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Mathematical & Computational Sciences between 2001 and 2005.
After graduating from Stanford, Li began her professional career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley at the age of 19, laying the groundwork for her future role as Meta’s CFO. During her nearly three years at the firm from July 2005 to March 2008, she gained valuable experience across different divisions, including the convertibles desk in New York, technology equity capital markets in Menlo Park, and investment banking in Hong Kong.
The Meta Journey
Susan Li joined Facebook (now Meta) in April 2008, when the company was still in its early stages with just 400 employees-smaller than MySpace at the time. Her first job at the company involved building early revenue forecasts, a task that required her to navigate the company’s nascent data infrastructure, which was crucial for the company’s growth as Li became more involved. As she described it, “There was a real Wild West feeling about it,” reminiscent of the dynamic environment that many financial executives in public companies experience. To get the data, I had to go find the engineer who built the data warehouse and get them to walk me through how the data was set up and how to query it, which was crucial for compliance purposes.
Over the next 14 years, Li took on increasing responsibilities within Meta’s finance organization, showcasing her growth as she joined Meta.
- She played a key role in the company’s 2012 IPO
- Served as Vice President of Finance, leading teams focused on finance, business planning, and treasury functions, ultimately preparing her for her role as CFO of Meta.
- Contributed to revenue planning and the launch of monetization products
- Helped navigate the company through periods of hypergrowth, mobile advertising challenges, and its initially rocky IPO, which ultimately shaped her leadership style as she joined the company.
Her progression within Meta culminated in her appointment as Chief Financial Officer in November 2022, succeeding David Wehner, who became the company’s first Chief Strategy Officer. At the time of her appointment, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted her contributions: “Susan has played a key role on our finance team for 14 years-helping take our company public in 2012, overseeing the forecasting and budgeting of our business, and proving herself a talented and dedicated leader”.
Leadership Philosophy and Approach
As CFO, Susan Li has articulated several core principles that guide her approach to financial leadership at Meta, principles that she believes are adaptable to organizations of any size:
Dynamic PlanningRather than simply building on previous years’ plans, Li advocates for a more flexible and forward-looking approach to financial planning, which is essential for adapting to the fast-paced environment of 2024.
PartnershipLi emphasizes that finance must work closely with product and business partners to accomplish the company’s goals, highlighting her role as Meta’s CFO. “If we just sat in our offices pounding our spreadsheets, we would not get far alone,” she noted, emphasizing the importance of collaboration among financial executives international.
Objectivity: While partnership is important, Li believes finance must maintain an independent, objective perspective when evaluating products, businesses, and investment opportunities.
Future-Oriented BudgetingInstead of incremental improvements, Li encourages thinking about what the finance organization should look like at the end of the decade, demonstrating her forward-thinking approach as she became CFO. “When you expand the time horizon, it suddenly removes the limits on what you think is immediately possible…It challenges people to think outside of the immediate operating cadence,” she explained.
Collaborative AI Implementation: Rather than reinventing the wheel, Li advocates for learning from others about how to leverage AI in finance operations, including talking to companies where finance is the core business, other CFOs, and BPO partners.
Navigating Meta’s Transformation
Susan Li’s tenure as CFO has coincided with a period of significant transformation for Meta, especially as the company prepares for the challenges of 2024. In 2023, the company embarked on what CEO Mark Zuckerberg called a “year of efficiency,” which involved reevaluating teams and projects while investing in key areas like AI and automation.
During this period, Li noted that Meta was “playing catch-up” when it came to AI capacity, with the company’s resources primarily focused on ads, feeds, and Reels, a challenge she has addressed since becoming Meta’s CFO. The company worked on flattening its organizational structure, removing layers of middle management to accelerate decision-making, while also deploying AI tools to enhance engineer productivity and improve accounting processes.
By 2025, this strategic focus on AI has paid dividends, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg identifying AI as the “central driver” of the company’s future, particularly in areas like advertising, messaging, and devices. Under Li’s financial guidance, Meta has managed to combine strong top- and bottom-line growth with disciplined investment in future technologies.
Beyond Meta: Board Experience
In addition to her role at Meta, Susan Li has gained valuable experience serving on corporate boards. From May 2018 to May 2023, she was a board member at Alaska Airlines, Alaska Air Group, Inc., and Horizon Air Industries, Inc. This board experience provided Li with broader exposure to corporate governance and strategic decision-making beyond the technology sector.
Personal Background and Philosophy
Susan Li’s personal background has significantly influenced her leadership approach. As someone who has often been “the odd one out”-whether as an immigrant Asian child, starting high school at 11, beginning college at 15, or working on a trading floor at 19-Li has learned to embrace being different.
In an interview, Li shared how her immigrant experience taught her to be comfortable in her own skin and form connections with people she wouldn’t have normally sought out. She credits her parents with instilling a strong work ethic and an unwavering belief that she could achieve anything she set her mind to.
This background has helped shape Li into a precise, humble yet driven, and forward-looking executive-qualities that serve her well as one of Silicon Valley’s top CFOs. Her ability to navigate complex financial landscapes, make strategic decisions, and communicate effectively with stakeholders underscores her influence and impact within Meta and the broader business community.
The Future of Finance at Meta
As Meta continues to evolve and invest heavily in artificial intelligence, Susan Li’s role as CFO becomes increasingly critical. The company’s financial strategy must balance significant investments in AI infrastructure with disciplined expense management to ensure long-term sustainability and growth.
Li’s approach to this challenge involves thinking beyond immediate operational needs to envision what Meta’s finance organization should look like by the end of the decade. This long-term perspective allows her to guide the company’s financial resources toward building capabilities that will support Meta’s ambitious vision for the future, especially as she became CFO of Meta.
In 2025, Li continues to oversee Meta’s financial operations as the company navigates regulatory pressures, particularly in Europe, while maintaining strong revenue growth. Her leadership in financial planning and capital allocation plays a crucial role in supporting Meta’s position as one of the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants shaping the global digital landscape.
Conclusion
Susan Li’s journey from a young immigrant to the CFO of one of the world’s most influential technology companies exemplifies the power of education, hard work, and embracing one’s unique perspective. At 39 years old in 2025, she has already accumulated a wealth of experience that positions her as a formidable financial leader in the technology sector.
As Meta continues to evolve and expand its influence in the digital world, Li’s financial stewardship will remain crucial to the company’s success. Her ability to balance disciplined financial management with strategic investments in emerging technologies like AI demonstrates the kind of forward-thinking leadership that modern tech giants require.
Susan Li’s story is not just about professional achievement but also about how diverse backgrounds and perspectives can contribute to innovation and leadership in corporate America. As she continues to guide Meta’s financial future, her influence on both the company and the broader technology industry is likely to grow even further.