Women of color occupy 10% of the seats on PepsiCo’s board of directors.

Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi, a native of India (now a U.S. citizen), is one of the country’s most powerful women, and her commitment to multicultural issues informs the direction of this food-and-beverage behemoth. Thanks to the support of her executive committee, PepsiCo’s Women of Color Multicultural Alliance is making major strides in recruitment: In 2008, multicultural women represented 10% of the company’s managers and 7% of its senior managers—but their presence among new manager hires was significantly higher at 15% and 10%, respectively. Once hired, these employees are assisted by Power Pairs, a mentoring program designed to help develop and retain multicultural women. The company also offers financial funding to Ascent, a nonprofit that helps women of color thrive in business. With the global market that it serves, what could be smarter?

Multicultural Women: 2%

Multicultural Women Managers/Execs: 8%

Chief Diversity Officer: Ron Parker

Hires who are multicultural women: 18%

Hires who are multicultural men: 21%

Multicultural women managers/execs: 8%

Multicultural men managers/execs: 14%

Top 20% earners who are multicultural women: 6%

Top 20% earners who are multicultural men: 16%

Multicultural women on board of directors: 8%

Offers formal compensation program to reward managers who specifically help multicultural women advance: YES

Rates managers on the number of multicultural women employees advancing: YES

Uses outside recruiter to focus on finding multicultural women candidates: YES

Offers support groups specifically for multicultural women: YES

Offers mentoring programs specifically geared toward multicultural women early in their careers: NO

Offers sponsorship program specifically geared toward multicultural women early in their careers: NO