Rank
3
Indra Nooyi
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 24 : Indra Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, USA; World Economic Forum Foundation Board Member is being interviewed by Andy Serwer, Managing Editor, Fortune Magazine, USA during the session 'An Insight, An Idea with Indra Nooyi' at the Annual Meeting 2014 of the World Economic Forum at the congress centre in Davos, January 24, 2014. (Photo by World Economic Forum/Urs Jaudas/Pool/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)Photograph by Urs Jaudas — Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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Nooyi's innovation push is paying off at PepsiCo, which has increased R&D spending 25% since 2011. Products launched in the past three years now make up 9% of revenue--which totaled $66.4 billion in 2013. And of 2013's 50 bestselling new food and beverage products in the U.S., nine came from PepsiCo: Starbucks Iced Coffee, Muller Quaker Yogurt, and Mountain Dew Kickstart, to name a few. In July the company raised its profit growth forecast for the year, which should help Nooyi counter calls by activist investor Nelson Peltz to break up the food and beverage giant.