Facebook have lost a big one today, with their Vice President of Global Communications, Joe Lockhart, set to depart the social networking site. His departure is sudden, as he only joined the social network 15 months ago, in July 2011.

Lockhart is most famously known for his work within the White House, where he was the Communications Secretary for President Bill Clinton, during the last half of his second term as President.

Lockhart's departure from Facebook stems from the soon to be ex-VP of Comms not wanting to move to California full-time, and stay on the east coast, where he has continued to live while working with the social network.

The departure of Lockhart couldn't come at a worse time, with their issues post-IPO, and they've only just announced their one billion monthly active user mark, too.