Dugan will officially depart Building 8 in early 2018 to lead “a new endeavor.”
Although most of us know Facebook for its bloated social network and messaging service, the company has its toes dipped in quite a few different projects – one of which is Building 8. Building 8 is where Facebook works on top-secret hardware projects, and the head of this division, Regina Dugan, has announced she’s leaving the company.
Regina Dugan joined Facebook as the head of Building 8 just about 18 months ago at this point, so her departure this early on does come as a surprise. There was an internal announcement on Tuesday, October 17 that Dugan would be resigning, and shortly after this, Dugan published a post on her Facebook page announcing the news.
Image from Anthony Quintano
In her post, Dugan says:
Today I am announcing that early next year, I will be leaving Facebook to focus on building and leading a new endeavor. I will be working with leadership over the next several months to ensure Building 8 makes a smooth transition into 2018.
This was a difficult decision for me. Together, we have already done so much good work. And there are many people that I will miss, personally, and professionally.
It’s worth noting that Facebook recently promoted Andrew Bosworth to lead all of the company’s current and future hardware projects, but in regards to who will be leading the team at Building 8, that’s still up in the air. During her time at Building 8, it’s reported that Dugan worked on devices such as a video chat gadget and a smart speaker.
Regina Dugan first joined Facebook in early 2016, and prior to her time there, she had been in charge of Google’s Advanced Technology and Product’s team, as well as the director of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).
We don’t know what Dugan’s “new endeavor” will be, but whatever it is, we can likely expect great things to come of it.
All the big announcements from Oculus Connect 4
