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Facebook's brain drain (pictures)

With 4,900 employees, Facebook should be forgiven for some expected turnover. But in the past 12 months, Facebook executives and senior staffers have been saying goodbye to the social network at an speedy rate.

Jennifer Van Grove

July 17, 2013 1:36 p.m. PT

1 of 15 Tom Arrix/Facebook

Tom Arrix, head of Facebook's U.S. sales team

Early Facebook ad salesman Tom Arrix, pictured right, said on July 16, 2013 that he was leaving Facebook -- in a Facebook post, of course. Arrix started in 2006, back when Facebook had just 8 million users, and became the company's head of North American sales. After seven years with the company, the pioneering ad executive said he had completed the goals he set out to do and was ready to move on.

"We crafted a vision that allowed marketers to better connect their brands with people, we started from scratch and built a multibillion-dollar business, we adopted and excelled at mobile advertising faster than anyone could imagine, and we have the most passionate and amazing teammates around the world," Arrix wrote.

2 of 15 Schneider Mike/Facebook

Josh Williams, product manager on location and events

Eighteen short months after joining Facebook to help with the company's local initiatives, entrepreneur Josh Williams said he was ready for something new. Williams came to Facebook after his location-based social network Gowalla was absorbed by Facebook in a small, talent-only deal. At Facebook, Williams worked on a Nearby Places feature to assist mobile users with finding places around them.

3 of 15 MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/GettyImages

U.K. director Christian Hernandez

After almost four years with Facebook, Christian Hernandez, pictured right, announced in July 2013 that he was leaving the social network to become an investment partner at White Star Capital.

Hernandez served as Facebook's director for the social network's U.K. and Pan-European divisions at the time of his departure, and was previously the company's director of platform partnerships for the same regions.

4 of 15 Jay Greene/CNET

General Counsel Ted Ulloyt

Former Facebook Vice President and General Counsel Ted Ullyot announced his departure in May 2013 after five years building the social network's legal team and defending it from patent suits and other litigious parties. Colin Stretch was promoted as Ullyot's replacement and assumed the head lawyer position on July 5.

Ullyot is pictured right with Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna at a Seattle press conference in January 2012.

5 of 15 AllThingsD

Asia director Sunita Kaur

Sunita Kaur, Facebook's director of Asia, switched her allegiance in June 2013, swapping the social network for its streaming music partner Spotify. The executive spent about two-and-half years at Facebook helping the company expand in Asian markets before she decided to jump ship.

6 of 15 Brian Ach/Getty Images

Gokul Rajaram, product director of ads

Just like Kaur, Gokul Rajaram, Facebook's product director of ads, jumped ship to Square in June 2013. After his startup Chai Labs was acquired by Facebook in August 2010, Rajaram stayed on to guide the social network's ad strategy and played an instrumental role in launching Facebook Exchange.

7 of 15 Paul Adams/Facebook

Paul Adams, global head of brand design

Social design specialist Paul Adams left Facebook in May 2013 after more than two years heading up the company's design and marketing projects for brand clients. Adams, the former Googler credited with the company's Google+ circles invention, landed at startup Intercom.

8 of 15 Josh Wiseman/Facebook

Engineering director Josh Wiseman

Josh Wiseman, pictured right with footballer Tim Tebow, spent six years at Facebook before leaving in early May 2013. The veteran executive joined Facebook in 2007 after intern gigs at Apple and Google. He quickly climbed the ranks and became Facebook's engineering director, a position that had him overseeing some of Facebook's biggest product releases.

"I've sort of developed a desire to work on a more tangible social problem -- like the health care industry -- that I don't think Facebook necessarily plans to tackle in the near term," Wiseman told AllThingsD at the time.

9 of 15 Sarah Tew/CNET

Accounting Chief David Spillane

David Spillane, Facebook's chief accounting officer, handed in his resignation letter on April 25, 2013, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Spillane, who spent about four-and-a-half years at Facebook, offered no explanation for his seemingly abrupt departure, but had previously made headlines for selling off a majority of his stake in the social network. Spillane was replaced by Jas Athwal.

10 of 15 Blake Ross/Facebook

Blake Ross, director of product

Facebook was dealt a major blow when director of Product Blake Ross, second from the left, departed in February 2013. Ross was the social network's acting product guru. The young prodigy landed at Facebook after his startup Parakey was acquired in 2007, but he had become a bit of an Internet legend after developing Mozilla's Firefox browser.

11 of 15 MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty Images

Joanna Shields, VP for Europe, Middle East, and Asia

Top Facebook European executive Joanna Shields left in October 2012 after serving as the social network's vice president and managing director for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Shields was previously an executive vice president at AOL and served as president of Bebo when that social network was sold to the media company for $850 million in 2008.

12 of 15 Charles Norfleet/Getty Images

Joe Lockhart, VP of Global Communications

Joe Lockhart, a high-profile Washington insider and former White House press secretary, stepped away from his full-time gig heading up Facebook's global communications efforts in October 2012. Lockhart spent just over a year at the social network.

13 of 15 Ben Blumenfeld

Design Manager Ben Blumenfeld

In August 2012, Ben Blumenfeld vacated his design manager position at Facebook to co-direct the Designer Fund. Blumenfeld had been with Facebook since 2007 and was tasked with making the social network more accessible to its users during major changes such as the transition to Timeline from profiles.

14 of 15 James Martin/CNET

Director of Platform Partnerships Ethan Beard

Just three months after Facebook's May 2012 IPO, director of Platform Ethan Beard, pictured far right at a Facebook press conference in 2010, decided to pack it in. Beard had spent more than four years at the social network working to make the platform attractive to third-party developers. Beard's departure was immediately followed by Platform Marketing director Katie Mitic and Mobile Platform marketing manager Jonathan Matus.

15 of 15 James Martin

CTO Bret Taylor

Facebook's biggest blow came a little more than one year ago when Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor decided to leave the company just a month after its public debut. Taylor arrived at Facebook after his social network FriendFeed was acquired in 2009.