Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi is an Indian-American business executive and the current Chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage business in the world by net revenue. According to Forbes, she is consistently ranked among the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. In 2013, she has been ranked 10th in the list of Forbes World’s 100 most powerful women.
Nooyi was born was born on 28th October 1955 in Madras (today called Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. She completed her schooling from the Holy Angels Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, and went on to do a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from the Madras Christian College in 1974, and a PG Diploma in Management (so-called MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in 1976. She started her careeer as a product manager with Johnson & Johnson, and later moved on to textile firm Mettur Beardsell in India. She got herself into the Yale School of Management in 1978, to earn a Master’s Degree in Public and Private Management. While at Yale, she completed her summer internship with Booz Allen Hamilton. Graduating in 1980, Nooyi joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and then held strategy positions at Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri.
Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named president and CFO in 2001. Nooyi has directed the company’s global strategy for more than a decade now, and has led PepsiCo’s restructuring, including the 1997 divestiture of its restaurants into Tricon, now known as ‘Yum! Brands’. Nooyi also took the lead in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998, and the merger with Quaker Oats Company, which also brought Gatorade to PepsiCo. In 2006 she became the fifth CEO in PepsiCo’s 44-year history. According to BusinessWeek, since she started as CFO in 2000, the company’s annual revenues have risen 72%, while net profit has more than doubled, to US $ 5.6 billion in 2006. Nooyi was named on Wall Street Journal’s list of ’50 Women to Watch’ in 2007 and 2008, and was listed among Time’s ‘100 Most Influential People in The World’ in 2007 and 2008. Forbes named her the 3rd most powerful woman in 2008. Fortune ranked her the most powerful woman in business in 2009 and 2010. On the 7th of October 2010, Forbes magazine ranked her the 6th most powerful woman in the world.
While CEO of PepsiCo in 2011, Nooyi earned a total compensation of US $ 17 million, which included a base salary of US $ 1.6 million, a cash bonus of US $ 2.5 million, pension value and a deferred US $ 3 million.
In January 2008, Nooyi was elected Chairwoman of the US-India Business Council (USIBC). Nooyi leads USIBC’s Board of Directors, an assembly of more than 60 senior executives representing a cross-section of American industry. She has been named 2009 CEO of the Year by Global Supply Chain Leaders Group. In 2009, Nooyi was considered one of “The TopGun CEOs” by Brendan Wood International, an advisory agency. After five years on top, PepsiCo’s Indian American chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi has only recently been pushed to the second spot as most powerful woman in US business by Kraft’s CEO, Irene Rosenfeld.
Nooyi is married to Raj K. Nooyi. They have two daughters and reside inGreenwich, Connecticut. One of her daughters is currently attending the School of Management at Yale, Nooyi’s alma mater. Forbes ranked her at the 3rd spot among ‘World’s Powerful Moms’ list. Her elder sister Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon is a well-known singer.