Indra Nooyi

In a sold-out appearance at Asia Society headquarters, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi spoke with Asia Society President Vishakha N. Desai about the challenges and successes she has experienced in her career at the highest levels of international business. "We are in an era of profound change," said Nooyi. "We can no longer be focused on the short term, we must think long term... It's just superhuman what is expected of us. Many of us are learning new skills. 'Rockstar' doesn’t work for any CEO."

Indra Nooyi is a graduate from Madras Christian College (MCC) in Chemistry, Physics and Math. On completion of her graduation she went to Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta for doing Masters in Finance and Marketing. Soon after completion of her MBA she joined ABB and then Johnson and Johnson in Mumbai. One of her achievement with J&J is her close association with launch of “Stayfree”. From there she has been no stopping her life.

Nooyi not only shows tenacity for follow-up, but she equally emphasized in the Mergers and Acquisition. Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named president and CFO in 2001. Nooyi has directed the company's global strategy for more than a decade and led PepsiCo's restructuring, including the 1997 divestiture of its restaurants into Tricon, now known as Yum! Brands. Nooyi also took the lead in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998 and merger with Quaker Oats Company, which also brought Gatorade to PepsiCo. In 2007 she became the fifth CEO in PepsiCo's 44-year history.
In January 2008, Nooyi was elected Chairwoman of the US-India Business Council (USIBC), a non-profit business advocacy organization representing more than 300 of the world's largest companies doing business in India. Nooyi leads USIBC's Board of Directors, an assembly of more than 60 senior executives representing a cross-section of American industry.

Indra Nooyi has been named 2009 CEO of the Year by Global Supply Chain Leaders Group. She is also the latest entrant, who has been placed 4th in the list of worlds topmost influential women’s by the Forbes Magazine.

Her quick decision making ability and sticking to the work until it’s got accomplished has drawn this comment from the Enrico that “If she gets an idea, she goes after it. There’s no stopping her.” No doubt her firmness and go getting attitude has won her laurels in the company and this helped her to build a strong foundation in the career graph to reach the top echelons in the organization where many people just day dreams to reach.