Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi is the chairwoman and CEO of PepsiCo, which is the world's fourth-largest food and beverage company. She broke the mould at PepsiCo as all previous CEOs were white American men. Nooyi was fifth on ‘Time’ magazine’s 2007 list of the world's 100 most powerful women. She is the most powerful woman in world business according to ‘Fortune’ magazine.
Nooyi was born in 1955 in Chennai, India. As a child, she always did things differently. She never accepted the traditional role of an Indian girl. She joined a cricket team and played guitar in a rock band. Nooyi got a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1974 and went on to do a Master’s in management at Yale, graduating in 1978.
Nooyi’s first job in the USA was with the Boston Consulting Group. She did well and moved on to a senior executive position at Motorola and then as head of strategy at ABB. Her skill inhelping ABB achieve success in America caught the attention of PepsiCo boss Wayne Calloway. He told her he “would make PepsiCo a special place” for her.
Nooyi has transformed PepsiCo’s fortunes and made it into a food and drink empire. She reshaped its brand identity and bought up many established brands including Tropicana and Quaker Oats. All of this helped double the company’s profits. She was made CEO in 2006. In March 2008, Nooyi was elected chairperson of the US-India Business Council, strengthening US-Indian trade relations.
