Grace Puma

Biography

Grace Puma is the Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Officer of PepsiCo. In its global portfolio of food and beverage brands, PepsiCo has 22 different brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. With net revenues of over $63 billion, PepsiCo’s main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola - make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are respected household names throughout the world. Puma leads a Global Supply Team comprised of Global Logistics, Global Procurement, and the PepsiCo Global Concentrate Solutions business.  In her current role as CSO, she has strategic leadership accountabilities for 12 concentrate manufacturing operations, ~$26B of purchase spend and ~3000 worldwide employees. Her scope of responsibility includes driving: enterprise supply chain strategy for warehousing/transportation; productivity; commodity risk management; concentrate plant health/safety; product quality and supply service to PepsiCo’s businesses. Grace is a seasoned executive experienced at transforming organizations into globally connected, locally wired business functions that drive performance. She is well regarded as a strategist and change agent who finds best-possible business solutions to business challenges. Grace is recognized as a top female and Hispanic leader role model across complex and decentralized global business environments. She is highly valued for her ability to find innovative solutions, build strong business relationships and develop talent. 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.  She also worked in strategic procurement at Motorola and Gillette earlier in her career. 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 2017, Grace was ranked as the #4 Most Powerful Latina by Fortune magazine and the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA).  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.

Research Interest

food process