By Arun Kumar
Washington, April 21 (IANS) The Fortune 500 may be dominated by male CEOs, but Indra Nooyi, Indian American CEO of Pepsico is listed fourth among “15 women (who) show what it takes to lead” some of the America’s biggest companies.

Fortune 500 Women CEOs listing of the US business magazine notes that since becoming CEO in 2006, Nooyi, 53, has grown the company’s top line-revenue from 10 percent in 2008 to $43.3 billion - and raised its profile in some goodwill-engendering arenas

Nooyi, who gets $13.4 million in compensation, has pushed PepsiCo to target health-conscious and female consumers, resulting in such new products as Smartfood’s low-fat popcorn clusters, low-calorie Trop 50, and Starbucks Frappuccino Lite.

“While Pepsi was forced to cut 3,500 jobs and close six plants last year, Nooyi has announced big expansions abroad: $500 million in India, $1 billion in China, and $3 billion in Mexico,” Fortune said.

PepsiCo will also spend $1.2 billion over the next three years to boost the sales of carbonated soft drinks-including brands such as Pepsi and Mountain Dew-in North America.

The list of women leaders of firms from health care, to food, to retail, to technology is topped by Patricia Woertz, 56, chairman, president and CEO of Archer Daniels Midland who spent three decades working in the oil industry before joining ADM. She gets a compensation of $17.5 million

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)