Indra K. Nooyi ’80, chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, Inc., has made a landmark gift to endow the deanship of the school and inaugurate the Fifth Decade Innovation Fund. She is the first woman to endow the deanship at a top business school. With this gift, Nooyi becomes the most generous graduate of Yale School of Management in terms of lifetime giving to the school.

As part of a long record of support for the Yale School of Management, Nooyi has previously made substantial contributions to the construction of Edward P. Evans Hall, including gifts to name the Nooyi Classroom and the Isaacson Classroom in memory of Professor Larry Isaacson.

“My experience at the Yale School of Management forever altered the course of my life,” said Nooyi. “My gift to this wonderful institution pales in comparison with the gift that Yale gave me—the fundamental understanding that leadership requires an expansive worldview and a deep appreciation of the many points of intersection between business and society.”

Nooyi has served as chief executive officer of PepsiCo since 2006, and chairman since 2007. Before joining PepsiCo in 1994, Nooyi worked in senior roles at Asea Brown Boveri, Motorola, and the Boston Consulting Group.

At Pepsi, Nooyi has been the chief architect of Performance with Purpose, the company’s promise to deliver top-tier financial performance over the long term by integrating sustainability into its business strategy and leaving a positive imprint on society. This vision has led PepsiCo to diversify its product portfolio to meet changing consumer needs. Today, less than 25 percent of PepsiCo’s global revenue is derived from carbonated soft drinks and approximately 20 percent comes from the company’s nutrition businesses. Under her leadership, PepsiCo has also been an industry leader in promoting environmental sustainability. For example, since 2006, the company has reduced its operational water use by 23 percent and improved the energy efficiency of its operations by 16 percent.

Nooyi serves as a member of the boards of U.S.-China Business Council, U.S.-India Business Council, the Consumer Goods Forum, Catalyst, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Tsinghua University. She is a past member of the Yale Corporation, the top governing board and policy-making body for the university. She is also a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and was appointed to the U.S.-India CEO Forum by President Obama.

Peter Salovey, Yale University president and the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, said, “Indra Nooyi’s sense of purpose, deep engagement with civic life, and pursuit of excellence exemplify the kind of leadership in service to society that we hope all Yale graduates will achieve. The world needs skillful, purposeful, and dedicated leaders in every field and every sector, and Indra’s name is synonymous with those core values of the university.”

Edward A. Snyder is the inaugural Indra K. Nooyi Dean. He has led the Yale School of Management since 2011 and was recently appointed to a second five-year term as dean.

The Fifth Decade Innovation Fund is named in recognition of the fact that the school is entering its fifth decade; the first class entered the Yale School of Management in 1976. The fund is an ambitious initiative designed to advance the school’s aim of developing leaders with the broad global mindset and multi-disciplinary approach to business that is needed to succeed in 21^st century capitalism. The fund will be open to additional substantial contributions that can help the school develop the technology and other infrastructure to support these and future initiatives.