Who

Nooyi is the chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo.

Backstory

Born in Chennai, India, Nooyi moved to the U.S. to attend grad school at Yale before taking a job at the prestigious consulting firm BCG. Following stints at Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri, in 1994 she joined Pepsi as head of their strategy group. Instrumental in managing the company's shift in direction in the 1990s, she played a vital role in the acquisition of Tropicana, Pepsi's merger with Quaker, and the spin-off of YUM Brands, the parent company of fast food properties Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC. In 2001, Nooyi was promoted to CFO. Five years later, after Steven Reinemund stepped down, she was named CEO. She now oversees a company that generates over $39 billion in sales a year.

Of note

Some observers were surprised that Pepsi's board picked a foreign-born woman to run the soft drink-and-junk food giant. They shouldn't have been: PepsiCo now generates almost half its revenue overseas, and most of their growth over the next decade is expected to come from abroad. Even before taking the top slot, Nooyi was directing her energies on expanding Pepsi's presence in places like China, the Middle East, and her native India, and has continued along the same path since stepping into the CEO suite. She's also been focused on expanding the more health-conscious product lines, like juices, vitamin waters, and whole-grain snacks.

On the job

Known to patrol Pepsi's HQ barefoot and occasionally burst into song (she's a karaoke fan), Nooyis deputies include CFO Richard Goodman, PepsiCo International chief Michael White, and John Compton, the CEO of PepsiCo in North America.

Drama

In 2005, Nooyi earned the wrath of the blogosphere for a speech she gave to Columbia Business School graduates in which she compared the continents to fingers on a hand and reserved the middle finger for the U.S. She later issued an apology.

Board game

Nooyi is on the board of the International Rescue Committee and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, along with Bruce Kovner, Bob Iger, Carl Icahn, and Julian Robertson, among others. She's also on the board of the Federal Reserve of New York, along with the likes of Jeff Immelt, Lee Bollinger, and Jerry Speyer.

Personal

A diehard Yankees fan, Nooyi is married to Rajkishan ("Raj"), a software engineer. They have two daughters, Pritha and Tara, and live in Greenwich.