Joanna Shields Takes Over Facebook's European Sales

Former Bebo President Joanna Shields has been appointed by Facebook as VP of sales and business development for Europe, the Middle-East, and Africa, the company has confirmed.

A spokesperson for the social network told ClickZ News that Shields will “manage the growing sales and business development teams in Europe, and continue to grow the company’s European sales group to support European customers and partners.” She will be based out of Facebook’s London office.

Blake Chandlee – who headed up the firm’s initial foray into the European market — will move his focus to less developed markets, such as those in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America, in a new role as emerging markets VP.

Facebook said Chandlee will work to establish sales channels in those regions through both local sales teams and reseller programs, in response to “high demand” from customers in those regions.

Outside of the U.S. and the U.K., the social network also established a sales presence in France at the end of 2008 in order to better serve local clients, which at the time included Dell and Peugeot.

According to Facebook, the sales reorganization is intended to “deepen [its] global sales capabilities and better enable the sales organization to continue [its] efforts to establish Facebook as the medium of choice for global brand advertisers.”

Both Shields and Chandlee will report into global head of sales, Mike Murphy.