As the head of PepsiCo, the world’s fourth-largest beverage and food producer, Nooyi was ranked the most powerful businesswoman in the world by Fortune magazine in 2006 and 2007.

Indra K. Nooyi graduated from Holy Angels School in Madras in India before attending Madras Christian College. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1974, she received a graduate degree from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta in 1976. She then transferred to Yale School of Management, where she received a master’s degree in 1980. After graduation, she began working for the Boston Consulting Group but quickly moved on to strategy positions at Motorola and Asea Brown Bovari.Nooyi, Indra K.

Her employment with PepsiCoPepsiCo began in 1994 as a senior vice president for strategic management. She recommended that the company spin off its fast-food holdings–Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut–into Tricon Global Restaurants (which later became Yum! Brands) and acquire Tropicana and Quaker Oats. In 2001, she was named the president and chief financial officer (CFO) of PepsiCo. After she became the CFO, PepsiCo’s revenues rose 72 percent on an annual basis, and its net profits more than doubled, reaching $5.6 billion in 2006. She was named the chief executive officer of PepsiCo on October 1, 2006, and became chair of the board in May, 2007.

Nooyi has also served on the boards of Motorola Corporation, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the International Rescue Committee, and the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts. She has been the Successor Fellow at Yale and was ranked third on Forbes magazine’s 2008 list of the World’s One Hundred Most Powerful Women.

Coca-Cola Company

Cola industry

Fast-food restaurants

Restaurant industry

Women in business