Indra Nooyi

Current Company

PepsiCo — Former Chairman & CEO

From Chennai to the Corner Office

Indra Nooyi grew up in Chennai, India, earned a master's degree from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, and moved to the United States to attend Yale School of Management. She joined PepsiCo in 1994 as head of corporate strategy and was the driving force behind transformative acquisitions including Tropicana and Quaker Oats — the latter bringing Gatorade into PepsiCo's portfolio.

Named CEO in 2006, Nooyi became one of the most prominent women and people of color leading a Fortune 50 company. Over her 12-year tenure, she grew PepsiCo's revenue from $35 billion to over $63 billion while rebalancing the portfolio toward healthier products and sustainability — a strategy she called Performance with Purpose.

Reshaping a Snack Empire for a Health-Conscious World

Indra Nooyi's legacy at PepsiCo is defined by her conviction that a food and beverage company could do well financially by doing good for consumers and communities. She invested billions in reformulating products to reduce sugar, salt, and fat, and expanded PepsiCo's portfolio of nutritious offerings. She also set ambitious environmental targets for water use, packaging, and emissions.

Since stepping down as PepsiCo CEO in 2018, Nooyi has served on major corporate boards, advised global organizations, and published a memoir. She remains one of the most cited examples of how immigrant talent, strategic vision, and long-term thinking can reshape a global corporation from the inside out.