Indra Nooyi rides high on success

Washington, Aug 14 (UNI) Chennai-born Indra K Nooyi today became the first Indian-American woman to head a company of a huge size as PepsiCo -- the world's fourth-largest in food and beverage industry.

PepsiCo's Board of Directors have elevated to be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective October 2006, after having most recently served as PepsiCo's President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), a position she has held since May, 2001, when she was also elected to the board of directors.

Her elevation to CEO in the company comes at time of controversy in some Indian states, who want to ban Pepsi and Coca-Cola due to what they say high content of pesticides in the soft drink.

Indra Nooyi was born and raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and completed her graduation at the Madras Christian College and the Indian Institue of Management, Calcutta. She came to the United States in pursuit of higher studies and went to Yale University to do her business management.

She took over as CEO of PepsiCo in August 2006 from Steve Reinemund, who retires at the age of 58.

After migrating to the United States in pursuit of higher education Ms Nooyi graduated from the Yale School of Management.

Prior to joining PepsiCo, Ms Nooyi held senior management positions at Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri.

While at PepsiCo, Ms Nooyi has played a vital role in starting Tricon. She also took the lead in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998. She assumed her current role as President and CFO of PepsiCo in May of 2001. She was named on the Wall Street Journal's list of 50 women to watch in 2005.

Before assuming CFO's position in 2001, Ms Nooyi had been Senior Vice-President (SVP) and CFO since February, 2000. Between 1996 and 1999, she was SVP of Corporate Strategy and Development. Prior to joining PepsiCo in 1994 as SVP of Strategic Planning, Ms Nooyi spent four years as SVP of Strategy and Strategic Marketing for Asea Brown Boveri. From 1986 to 1990, she was Vice-President and Director of Corporate Strategy and Planning at Motorola, where she joined the company as the Business Development Executive for its automotive and industrial electronics group.

Before joining Motorola, she spent six years directing international corporate strategy projects at the Boston Consulting Group.

Ms Nooyi started her career in India, where she held Product Manager Positions at Johnson&Johnson and at Mettur Beardsell, Ltd, a textile firm.

In addition to the PepsiCo Board of Directors, Ms Nooyi serves as a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Motorola, the International Rescue Committee and Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts.

She is also a Successor Fellow of Yale Corporation and with the Advisory Board of the Yale School of Management, the Board of Trustees for the Eisenhower Fellowships and Asia Society, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission.

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