28 October: Indra Nooyi an Indian American business executive

OV Digital Desk
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Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi (born 28 October 1955) is an Indian American business executive and former chief executive officer and chairperson of PepsiCo.

Early Life

Indra Nooyi was born on 28 October 1955, in Tamil Nadu, India. In 1976, Nooyi graduated from Madras Christian College with a degree in chemistry. Two years later, she received her master’s degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta.

Career

In 1976, Nooyi graduated from Madras Christian College with a degree in chemistry. Two years later, she received her master’s degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta.

During her time in India, she worked for Johnson & Johnson and Mettur Beardsell before getting into Yale School of Management in 1978. In 1980, she got her master’s degree in public and private management from Yale School of Management after moving to the United States. After that, Nooyi worked as a consultant for Boston Consulting Group. After that, she worked for Motorola, Inc., and Asea Brown Boveri.

From 1986 to 1990, she was Motorola’s vice president of corporate strategy. In 1990, she became an American citizen. She joined PepsiCo in 1994. By 2001, she was the company’s chief financial officer, heading the global strategy and restructuring. She became PepsiCo’s CEO in 2006 and the next year became chairman of the board as well.

PepsiCo under Nooyi became a well-balanced consumer-products company less reliant on its flagship soft drink sales. She also aggressively expanded internationally. During her tenure, PepsiCo’s revenue grew from $35 billion in 2006 to $63.5 billion in 2017. In 2019, Nooyi announced she would step down as CEO and chairman of the board.

Awards and recognition

In 2008 and 2009, Forbes magazine ranked Nooyi fourth on their list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” Fortune ranked her number one on its “Most Powerful Women in Business” list for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.

In 2013, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India.

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