Grace Puma

Executive Vice President, Global Operations, PepsiCo

Grace Puma is executive vice president, Global Operations of PepsiCo, where she leads the global operations center of excellence, global procurement, concentrate operations, safety and security and advanced manufacturing systems. PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world, and generated more than $64 billion in net revenue in 2018, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Working across a complex operating environment that is evolving at a rapid pace, Grace is valued for her ability to find innovative solutions and build strong business relationships to meet the needs of customers and consumers.

Previously under her leadership as chief supply officer, she held strategic leadership accountabilities for ~$26B of purchase spend and 12 concentrate manufacturing operations. Highly regarded as a strategist and change agent who finds the best-possible business solutions to business challenges, she was responsible for driving the enterprise-wide supply chain strategy for warehousing/transportation; productivity; commodity risk management; concentrate plant health/safety; product quality and supply service for PepsiCo’s businesses.

She is also a seasoned executive experienced at transforming organizations into globally connected, locally wired business functions that drive performance. When she joined PepsiCo in 2010 as chief procurement officer, she globalized procurement and consistently delivered above-plan productivity and cash flow results in the process.

Prior to joining PepsiCo, Grace was Chief Procurement Officer at United Airlines and held a variety of senior leadership positions in global procurement at Kraft Foods, including raw materials, packaging, indirect materials, transportation, logistics, and services. Earlier in her career, she also worked in strategic procurement at Motorola and Gillette.

Recognized as a top female leader and Hispanic role model, she is well-known for her ability to inspire and develop talent.

Grace holds a B.A. in Business Administration and Economics from Illinois Benedictine University. She is a current board member for Williams-Sonoma and previously served as a board member for Steppenwolf Theatre and Marietta Corporation. In 2018, Grace was ranked #2 on the Most Powerful Latina by Fortune magazine and the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), having ranked #4 in 2017. She was recognized as the “Executive of the Year” by Latina Style magazine in 2016, and in 2013 was ranked as the #4 CPO out of 5,000 global CPOs across all industries by ExecRank.