Indra Nooyi elected chair person of PepsiCo

Mumbai: Indra Nooyi, chief executive officer of the $32 billion global convenient food and beverage company, PepsiCo, has been elected chairwoman of the company, its board of directors said in a statement.

Nooyi, 51, the India-born American corporate honcho who directed worldwide strategy of PepsiCo for over a decade, assumed the role of its CEO on October 1, 2006.

She becomes the fifth chairman and chief executive officer in PepsiCo's 42-year history, following Reinemund (2001-2006), Roger A Enrico (1996-2001), Wayne D Calloway (1986-1996) and Donald M Kendall (1971-1986). Herman W Lay served as PepsiCo's first chairman (1965-1971), while Kendall served as CEO.

Nooyi, who joined PepsiCo in 1994, was the primary architect of PepsiCo's restructuring and transformation, including the merger with Quaker Oats and the acquisition of Tropicana, which added some of the world's strongest health and wellness brands to PepsiCo's portfolio.

Indra K Nooyi will assume the role of chairman of the board effective when executive chairman Steven S Reinemund, 58, retires on May 2, as he announced last August, PepsiCo board of directors said.

"I'm incredibly honoured by the board's confidence, and extraordinarily fortunate to follow in the footsteps of Steve Reinemund and all my illustrious predecessors," said Nooyi.

"PepsiCo is on a sound strategic course with solid momentum thanks to Steve's leadership, and along with every PepsiCo associate, I'm looking forward to building on the lasting legacy created by him, Roger, Wayne, Don and Herman," she said.