Indra Nooyi is an Indian-born American businesswoman who was CEO of PepsiCo for 12 years from 2006 to 2018. During this period she spearheaded the turnaround and diversification of PepsiCo and brought about a revenue increase from $35 billion in 2006 to $63.5 billion in 2017 for the company.
Nooyi was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on October 28, 1955. She did her schooling from Holy Angels Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in T. Nagar and graduated from Madras Christian College in 1974 in physics, chemistry and mathematics. She has a post graduate diploma from IIM, Kolkata and a master’s degree in management from Yale School of Management, New Haven.
She joined Pepsico in 1994, eventually becoming its CEO in 2006. During her 12-year tenure as Pepsico’s CEO the company’s profits rose by 80 per cent. She was responsible for Pepsico’s acquisition of Tropicana in 1998 and the Quaker Oats Company in 2001. Her decision gave PepsiCo an edge against its biggest competitor, Coca-Cola, with the annual net profit of PepsiCo rising from US$ 2.7 billion to 6.5 billion.
She has been instrumental in adding a healthier dimension to PepsiCo’s offerings and in raising environmental concerns and sustainability, redesigning packaging to reduce waste, conserving water, switching to renewable energy sources and recycling.
Nooyi was named one of the ‘Best CEOs in the World’ by CEOWORLD magazine in 2018. She has ranked No 1 on the ‘Most Powerful Women in Business’ list by Fortune in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2008, she was named one of ‘America’s Best Leaders’ by US News and World Report.
She presently serves on the boards of Amazon and the International Cricket Council.
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