Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg was being paid $30.87 million last year making her the most highly paid employee in 2011.

To further break it down, Sandberg received $295,833 in salary plus a bonus of $85,133 and stock awards worth $30,491,613. Sandberg overtakes Facebook's own chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg which included a salary of $483,333 plus a $220,500 bonus and "other compensation" worth $783,529. The COO received such bulk compensation due to "personal use of aircraft chartered in connection with his comprehensive security program for his family and friends. Another $90,850 of that amount was for "costs related to estate and financial planning."

Facebook will undertake its initial public offering smoothly thanks to the dynamic woman behind the social network company. Sandberg was originally from Google who joined Facebook in 2008 and transformed the college social media experiment into a global sensation. Now, Facebook followed a class and robust business.

Although Sandberg is considered as one of the highest paid employees in 2011, she will not gain as much as Mark Zuckerberg in Facebook's IPO. Zuckerberg, whose net worth in 2011 was estimated at $17.5 billion last year, claims 56.9% voting power in Facebook and owns more than 1 billion shares in the company.

The next on the list of top shareholders among company executive officers and directors is James Breyer, a venture capitalist, who owns 201 million shares and has 11.4% voting rights in the company. Peter Thiel, another VC, has 44 million shares, which translates to 2.5% voting rights. Sandberg, meanwhile, has 1.9 million shares. Among outside investors, Goldman Sachs holds 65.9 million shares while Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder, holds 133.8 million shares.

The pricing for the stock has not been set at this time for the IPO.

Sandberg is an epitome of energy combined with slick presentation skills, pacing conference stages without ever consulting a notecard. She remains cool and reveals more what she means to during presentations. The COO also has a lot of academic credentials under her belt. She has a BA in Economics and an MBA with the highest distinction, both from Harvard University where she caught the attention of Professor Larry Summers.