Mike Vernal, one of the key executives at Facebook, is leaving the company to join Sequoia Capital as a partner.

Vernal has been with the social network leader for eight long years and was in charge of the company's search, local and developer products. During his tenure, Vernal climbed the corporate ladder successfully to reach his optimum growth and reported directly to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"Mike Vernal has been an integral part of the Facebook team for eight years. While we're sad to lose him, we're happy for him to take the next step in his career and wish him all the best," was Facebook's statement for its ex-VP. Apparently, the company is in no hurry to find an immediate replacement for Vernal and plans to divide his responsibilities among the management teams.

Vernal parted ways with Facebook a week after the company's annual developer conference was held in San Francisco. He said that the decision to leave one of the most sought-after companies in the world hasn't been an easy one at all, especially after attending the conference where Zuckerberg shared his 10-year vision with 2500 attendees. Vernal also confessed that it is always hard leaving a company that is so mission-driven.

However, he seemed excited about the new prospects at Sequoia where his responsibilities lie with consumer and developer technology. One of the partners, Bryan Schreier, who got to know Vernal while he was setting up startups as part of a Facebook initiative, stated, "You don't recruit people like Mike. They choose you and we are thrilled to have him join."

Vernal's arrival at Sequoia marks the departure of its long-term partner, Michael Goguen, who has been hit by one of the most controversial lawsuits in Silicon Valley. Vernal is yet another male member to join the string of male partners in the company, a fact which the company is widely criticized for.

Currently, the company's Chinese and Indian arms have three and two female members respectively. Chairman Michael Moritz has been known to state that while the company is working to rectify this lack of diversity, it won't be lowering its standards to achieve that end.