Pepsico CEO Indira Nooyi’s exit point towards an alarming trend of decreasing women CEOs in top American companies

Indira Nooyi, one of the India’s high profile global executives, has stepped down from her the post of PepsiCo CEO after 24 years of service. Within the food industry, Nooyi is the latest Female CEO to have stepped down from a top job, following Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld last year and Campbell CEO Denise Morrison earlier this year. After Nooyi’s exit there are only 24 Female CEO’s left in Forbes 500 companies.

Nooyi has been hailed as a trendsetter for many aspiring entrepreneurs across the world for her carrying the role of a CEO of the world’s largest food and Beverage Company. She was listed as the ‘Top 100 most influential personalities’ and one of the few ‘Top 25 women entrepreneur’ in Forbes 500 companies.

Nooyi became a poster girl especially for Indians, for showing them the path of success, and that the top level is not beyond our reach.

Prior to joining Pepsico, Nooyi was holding a high profile position in Johnson & Johnson.

Nooyi, who took over as Chief Executive of PepsiCo in 2006, changed the way people used to perceive PepsiCo. She established and marketed PepsiCo’s biggest brand Mountain Dew, Tropicana and Gatorade as the best sellers competing with rival Coca-Cola in terms of profit sharing worldwide.

Speaking about her exit from PepsiCo, Nooyi stated she wants to mentor and train women, who deserve to be in top jobs. Adding she would spend her rest of the time with her family.