Food Processing - June 2008 - (Page 35)

MEAN DIRECTIONS Fourteen of the 15 largest food companies have changed CEOs in the past three years. Here’s a look at how seven of them will change the food industry. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo Inc. INDRA NOOYI PepsiCo’s entrepreneurial, non-bureaucratic, risk-oriented environment has nurtured many talented executives, including a handful of CEOs who now are at other food companies: Irene Rosenfeld (chairman/CEO at Kraft), Brenda Barnes (chairman/CEO at Sara Lee), Gary Rodkin (CEO at ConAgra), as well as others who have gravitated to other ﬁelds. One who didn’t get away is Indra K. (Krishnamurthy) Nooyi, who became CEO in October 2006 and chairman seven months later. Born and educated in India, Nooyi moved to the U.S. in 1978 to earn a master’s degree from Yale University. She joined PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y., in 1994. She helped spin oﬀ Pepsi’s restaurants into Yum! Brands and the company-owned bottling operations into Pepsi Bottling Group. She was instrumental in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998. And she led negotiations on the $13.8 billion PepsiCo merger with Quaker Oats in 2001. Her reward was a seat on the board and the title of president, placing her in line to succeed CEO Steve Reinemund, who already was turning PepsiCo from a soda company to an international food and beverage company stressing health and wellness in new product development. As president and CFO from 2000 to 2006, Nooyi was credited by analysts with transforming the company’s global strategy when both Coke and Pepsi faced challenges in their core markets.Since becoming CEO, Nooyi has reorganized PepsiCo to accommodate international growth by dividing operating units into PepsiCo International, PepsiCo Americas Foods and PepsiCo Americas Beverages. She doubled her executive team to 29, and wants better nutrition to be part of PepsiCo’s DNA. Acquisitions are Nooyi’s mantra, analysts say, and mostly in the health and wellness sector – but so far, the company has only gone after Naked Juice in the U.S. and a handful of Eastern European companies. Joint ventures with Lipton and Starbucks are bringing new beverage opportunities to the table. Last year, PepsiCo’s net revenue was $39.5 billion. Its portfolio includes 18 megabrands that generate more than $1 billion each in worldwide sales. Some of its leading brands include Pepsi-Cola, Aquaﬁna, Frito-Lay, Tropicana, Quaker and Gatorade. She recruited Mehmood Khan, a former Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, naming him chief scientiﬁc oﬃcer to head up R&D and created a vision – Performance With Purpose – that describes how she wants PepsiCo to do business both at home and abroad. She has the reputation of nurturing employees and wants the company to work toward a net-zero impact on the environment. Known as a strategic thinker, Nooyi has been an advocate of improving the nutritional value of PepsiCo’s portfolio. Although 70 percent of PepsiCo’s products are still what the company deﬁnes as “fun for you” foods, compared with “better for you” or “good for you” products, the company is moving forward in last two categories. “PepsiCo is well on its way to achieving 50 percent or more [betterfor-you products] by 2010,” Nooyi said recently. “We are No. 1 in the fastest-growing category – non-carbonated beverages, including energy drinks, teas, juices and isotonics.” Trans fats have been eliminated through the use of sunﬂower oil, sugars have been reduced or eliminated, Frito-Lay’s Flat Earth line of baked fruit and vegetable crisps has been introduced and most recently Pinch of Salt chips with less salt debuted. Now an American citizen, Nooyi sometimes wears traditional Indian saris to company functions, and is certainly the only CEO to have played in an all-girl rock band. She has also expressed a desire to go to Washington after her tenure at PepsiCo to “give back – to work for no money for four or ﬁve years.” David Mackay, Kellogg Co. When Kellogg chairman/CEO Carlos Gutierrez was tapped to be Commerce secretary in 2004, his departure must have come as a shock, because the cereal giant named a relative outsider, James Jenness, as interim CEO (also chairman) while taking a little longer to groom the eventual CEO and longtime heir-apparent David Mackay. As COO, Mackay (he pronounces his name “McKey”) had been Gutierrez’ right-hand man. He has a wealth of international experience. Born in New Zealand and brought up in Australia, he joined Kellogg Australia as group product manager in 1985. He transferred to corporate headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich., in 1987 as category director for ready-to-eat cereals. Mackay returned to Australia in 1991 as marketing and sales director of Kellogg Australia. From 1992 to 1998, he worked for Sara Lee in Australia, but returned to the cereal company as managing director of Kellogg Australia. He quickly moved up, to managing director of UK and Republic of Ireland, then corporate senior vice president and president of Kellogg USA, then executive vice president of Kellogg Co. In 2003, he was named president and COO, and by the end of 2006 he was CEO. “[Mackay’s] contribution to growing and sustaining the company’s performance has been invaluable,” Jenness said upon Mackay’s appointment. Known for his easy style, Mackay, who sometimes JUNE 2008 FOOD PROCESSING • 35 DAVID MACKAY FOODPROCESSING.COM http://FOODPROCESSING.COM

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Food Processing - June 2008 Editor's Plate NewsBites Show Report The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Consumer Taste Test A Bevy of New CEOs Ingredients Packaging Plant Operations MRO Q&A New Supplier Products Toops Scoops Contents

Food Processing - June 2008

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