Editor's note: This post has been edited.
Dive Brief:
- President-elect Donald Trump has named PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to the the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, TheStreet reported.
- Nooyi had vocally supported Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but didn't donate to her campaign.
- Other forum members include Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick.
Dive Insight
Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump had gone as far as to call for boycotts of PepsiCo products after Nooyi made comments about some employees being concerned after the election — even though in the same interview, she congratulated Trump on his victory. Some of her comments became misreported as attacking Trump through the social-media game of telephone, but this newest appointment may end the #BoycottPepsi movement.
Nooyi has been a vocal advocate for respect for women — an issue that Trump's opposition brought to the forefront during the campaign. At the same post-election event, she had strong words about the NFL and domestic violence: "How dare we talk about women that way? Why do we talk that way about a whole group of citizens? I don't think there's a place for that kind of language in any part of society. Not in locker rooms, not in football players' homes, not in any place."
She has also been a proponent of gender parity and equality in the workplace in recent years, including co-chairing an industrywide gender parity initiative, the NEW Future Fund from the Network of Executive Women.
This government advisory appointment is an important distinction and a tremendous accomplishment for a female minority CEO, particularly in the male-dominated food industry. But Nooyi may have to compromise previous positions to engage with the president-elect.