Indra Nooyi is one of the most impressive and influential women in the international business community. She ranked #4 on Fortune Magazine's list of "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" for 2005 and #28 on Forbes List of the "100 Most Powerful Women". As President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo, she is the highest ranking Indian born woman in corporate America.
Known as a skilled strategist, Ms.Nooyi took the lead in acquiring 'Tropicana" in 1998 and played a vital role in the merger with Quaker Oats. She was also instrumental in starting PepsiCo’s fast food chains in 1997. "My goal is to make sure that we are constantly renewing ourselves and when you're 10 million dollars , it's easy to grow at 10 per cent .We are $22 billion ,which means we have to have $2 billion revenue every year", she says.
Ms. Nooyi serves on the Board of Directors of PepsiCo, Inc. She also serves as Successor Fellow at Yale Corporation and the Advisory Board of Yale University President's Council of International Activities. She is a member of the Boards of Motorola, the International Rescue Committee, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. Ms. Nooyi also serves on the Advisory Boards of Yale School of Management, PlaNet Finance and Greenwich Breast Cancer Alliance, as well as, on the Board of Trustees of Eisenhower Fellowships and Asia Society. She is a member of The Trilateral Commission.
Born in Madras, Ms. Nooyi earned her M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta and worked in India before coming to the United States to attend the Yale School of Management, where she earned her Master's degree in public and private management. Upon graduation, she embarked on an extremely successful career path starting with Boston Consulting Group in 1980 and then joining Motorola as vice-president of corporate planning and strategy in 1986 before moving to Asea Brown Boveri as vice president in 1990. 1994 marked a banner year for Ms. Nooyi when she went to work for the corporate giant, PepsiCo. At PepsiCo, Ms. Nooyi held a series of increasingly important positions, including senior vice president of corporate strategy and development; before becoming chief financial officer of PepsiCo
"Being a woman, being foreign-born, you've got to be smarter than anyone else," says Nooyi, who honours her Indian heritage by often attending PepsiCo events wearing a sari. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Fairfax County, Connecticut.