Nooyi, Indra

Indra Krishnamoorthy Nooyi is the chairperson and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, a global beverage, food, and snack company. Nooyi has been lauded for breaking the invisible glass ceiling and becoming the 11th woman to be at the top position in a Fortune 500 company. She made it to the number three position, following German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the former-British prime minister's wife Cheryl Blair, in the Forbes list of 100 most powerful women in the world in 2009. She was also part of Time‘s list of 100 most influential people.

Nooyi was born on October 28, 1955, in Chennai, India, to a bank officer and a stay-at-home mother. She attended the Christian College in Madras and has a master's degree in business management from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, as well as from Yale University—two highly ranked institutions of learning located in India and the United States.

Nooyi has been heralded for displaying exemplary business acumen and sophisticated strategy by expanding the scope and focus of Pepsi's beverages beyond U.S. territories and for making forays into the Chinese market. Her work experience includes positions with Johnson & Johnson, where she was instrumental in the launch of Stayfree sanitary napkins for women. She has also been a part of prestigious institutions, such as the Boston Consulting Group. Her credo for her company is to deliver “performance with purpose.”

Nominated the 2009 CEO of the Year by the Global Supply Chain Leaders Group, Nooyi has been forthright about her commitment to socially responsible corporate leadership. She has expanded the PepsiCo product line with healthy drinks and food products, such as the Quaker Oats division and health-oriented beverages. Nooyi is considered the motivating force for the company's health-conscious decisions, such as removing trans fats from their products.

Indra Nooyi, chairperson and chief executive officer of PepsiCo., was named one of Time's 100 most influential people.

Drawing a salary of more than $13 million annually, Nooyi is known to be an active philanthropist. Nooyi exemplifies an ideal for maintaining a balance between work and building a globally recognized identity as an individual.

Nooyi is also a wife and the mother of two girls. She has managed to remain involved in her children's lives and gives credit to her partner for taking the supporting role that has helped her stay focused on her career. She is currently the chairperson of the U.S.-India Business Council. She has also been a champion of women's rights and is frequently invited to speak on the topic. In her keynote address at Cornell University, Nooyi said “If women don't speak out on women's issues, whether it be women in the workplace or maternal mortality or little girls in Africa who are abandoned, if women don't speak out on those issues, I don't know who's going to speak out on them.”

She envisions a future in Washington, D.C., working alongside the political powers and devoting time to social good and social policy. If Indra Nooyi's list of accomplishments, innate leadership skills, singleminded [Page 1023]dedication, and professional competence are any indication, making it to Washington, D.C., should not be too difficult a task for this accomplished individual.

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