The Sexiest CEOs Alive!
#50 Julie Smolyansky
#49 Stephan Winkelmann
Company: Lamborghini
Age: 48
This Berlin-born exec is an expert in luxury. He studied political science in Rome, served as a paratrooper in the German army, and dresses like a model in his company's catalogue.
Winkelmann jacked up production at Lamborghini when he took charge in 2005, with two-thirds of the brand's entire sales made in the last 10 years alone.
#48 Bob Iger
Company: Disney
Age: 62
Having been at the Mouse House since 1996, Iger drives creative and financial success at the world’s preeminent entertainment company. He's rolling in $40.2 million, as of the last fiscal year.
The Ithaca College grad will focus on the integration of Lucasfilm and the development of Shanghai Disney Resort during the remainder of his tenure (his contract was just extended to summer 2016).
#47 Dorothy "Dottie" Herman
Company: Douglas Prudential Real Estate
Age: 60
This Long Island girl has the quintessential New York success story. In two decades, the former real estate broker purchased and merged Prudential Long Island Realty and Douglas Elliman brokerages.
She drives a Mercedes SL and her house in the Hamptons — her favorite home — has a shoe theme.
#46 Bert Jacobs
Company: Life is Good
Age: ~48
In the late '80s this pizza delivery guy and his brother figured selling T-shirts out of their van would be a good way to make a quick buck. They made a lot more than that; Life is Good quickly became a $100 million retailer and outlet of optimism.
The shaggy CEO dubs himself "Chief Executive Optimist," and finds joy through the Life is Good foundation, which uses play to help kids overcome poverty, violence, and illness.
#45 Kevin Plank
Company: Under Armour
Age: 41
Plank considers himself an underdog of the sports apparel industry, but in the last year his net worth cranked up 26 percent and Under Armour experienced its 13th straight quarter of at least 20 percent revenue growth.
The former University of Maryland football player now owns the 530-acre Sagamore Farm in his home state.
#44 Carolyn McCall
Company: easyJet
Age: ~52
McCall grew up in India and Singapore, and started her career as a high school teacher. After climbing the ranks at the Guardian Media Group, she landed at the helm of a British airline that flies 60 million passengers every year.
It's safe to say she's seen the world — the sure-footed McCall said she travels around easyJet’s route network once every two or three weeks.
#43 Richard Branson
Company: Virgin
Age: 63
Adventurous, quirky, and still pretty hot for a 63-year-old, Sir Richard Branson — knighted in 2000 — is the founder of Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Records, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Media, Virgin Mobile, and about 400 other companies.
The self-made billionaire is the first person to ever build eight separate billion-dollar companies in eight different industries, and this year he pledged to donate half of his wealth to philanthropic causes.
The Brit said he most comes alive when kitesurfing, playing tennis, and running.
#42 Julie Rice & Elizabeth Cutler
Company: SoulCycle
Age: N/A
Rice worked as a Hollywood talent manager and Cutler sold real estate in Colorado before they relocated to New York City and created the cultish, boutique fitness company.
The spin studios' heart-pounding dance music and candlelight are reflections of the founders' fun-loving but spiritual personalities, which is perhaps what attracts their thousands of followers.
Their vice: frozen yogurt.
#41 Jeff Weiner
Company: LinkedIn
Age: ~43
Weiner joined LinkedIn in 2008, growing its membership base from 33 million to more than 225 million members, and increasing its revenue tenfold. The networking guru schedules 30- to 90-minute windows of "doing nothing" every day, giving himself time to just think.
He's also dipped into the non-profit sector as a board member of Malaria No More and DonorsChoose.org.
#40 Stacey Snider
Company: DreamWorks Studios
Age: 52
Recent DreamWorks blockbuster hits like the Academy Award-winning "Lincoln" have brought a lot of positive attention in Snider's direction.
Snider got her start in Hollywood working in the mail room of Triad Artists. Since then she's worked her way up, previously serving as the Chairman of Universal Pictures before her current role as CEO of DreamWorks Studios. In her spare time she serves on the boards of youth service corps organization City Year, and the Special Olympics of California.
#39 Casey Wasserman
Company: Wasserman Media Group
Age: 39
In addition to heading his sports agency, the Wasserman Media Group, Casey Wasserman also oversees the Wasserman Foundation, his family's philanthropic organization.
He's also known for being one of the youngest professional sports team owners in the world: He purchased the Los Angeles Avengers in 1998 when he was just 25 years old, but he shut the team down in 2009.
Wasserman was very close with his grandfather, prominent Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman, whom he saw as an inspiration and a mentor.
#38 Heather Bresch
Company: Mylan
Age: 44
Bresch started at the bottom, literally, in the basement of a Mylan factory where she typed labels for the quality assurance program. Twenty years and 15 titles later, she's in the corner office of one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.
During her tenure she's championed initiatives that give patients better access to medicine, particularly those battling HIV/AIDS.
Outside the office, one of Bresch's favorite pastimes is cooking, she tells West Virginia Living, especially for her family.
#37 Neil Blumenthal & David Gilboa
Company: Warby Parker
Age: Both ~33
These Wharton School classmates founded the buzzy eyewear brand that provides a pair of glasses to someone in need with every pair sold.
Blumenthal is a native of New York City, enjoys long walks in the park, and is a big Hall and Oates fan.
The adventure-seeking Gilboa trekked across Antarctica, became the fastest person to run a marathon in a flamingo costume, and aspires to "one day summit Everest while wearing his trusty monocle."
#36 Jamie Dimon
Company: J.P. Morgan
Age: 57
The Harvard-educated biz whiz got into hot water earlier this year when he misled the public about the “London Whale” fiasco, J.P. Morgan's worst trading loss ever. But Dimon is letting the results speak for him: The country's largest bank earned $21.3 billion last year, a record profit.
The silver fox is known for his nobility, as the CEO who kept his bank secure and profitable and defended the industry’s honor during the financial crisis.
#35 Rosalind Brewer
Company: Sam's Club
Age: ~51
Brewer began her career as a scientist for Kimberly-Clark Corp., where she stayed for 22 years. Today she channels the analytics and problem-solving skills she learned as a chemist into running a $50 billion business.
Sam's Club's first woman and first African-American to serve as CEO is also a member of the Board of Directors for Lockheed Martin Corp.
#34 Robert Hanson
Company: American Eagle Outfitters
Age: 50
Hanson wears the pants in the fashion industry. The former executive VP and president of Levi's, Hanson slipped into the CEO position at AE in 2012, rebranded the long-troubled retailer as being more hip and upscale, and increased revenues by 9 percent before the end of the year.
OUT Magazine named Hanson in its 2013 Power List, which recognizes the most influential gay people in America.
#33 Leslie Blodgett
Company: Bare Escentuals
Age: 50
After rising up to the position of CEO in 1994, Blodgett immediately took the cosmetic company's future into her own hands, launching the highly successful bareMinerals line not even a year later. Blodgett also took advantage of QVC as a means to get word out about her product, and in 2001 bareMinerals became the number-one-selling product the network had to offer.
Family is a huge part of her life. Her grandmother, for example, inspired a new makeup collection, and her husband devotes 100 percent as a stay-at-home dad.
#32 Scott Gerber
Company: Gerber Group
Age: 52
Gerber co-founded the Gerber Group, a company that runs multiple nightclubs and restaurants, in 1991 and since then the company has blossomed. They have venues all over the country and world, with the newest one, a street-level bar and restaurant at the Viceroy Hotel New York, slated to open next month.
Gerber was previously a principal at a commercial real-estate firm representing A-list clients like Giorgio Armani, Hermès, and Dolce & Gabbana.
The CEO prefers to run the show from the wings, but he still mixes with some pretty famous people — like Cindy Crawford, who is married to his brother and fellow co-founder, Rande.
#31 Laurie Ann Goldman
Company: Spanx
Age: N/A
Goldman was on the fast track at Coca-Cola when she staged a "life intervention" and moved to the number-one shapewear retailer. Spanx has been hailed as a lifesaver by women everywhere, and recently launched a product for men.
She's transformed a one-product line into a robust, self-esteem-boosting brand. The hard-working mother of three says her best advice is to be naive: "Know the odds, but believe you can beat them."
#30 Pete Cashmore
Company: Mashable
Age: 28
Inc. has dubbed this scruffy Scot "the Brad Pitt of the blogosphere." Cashmore began Mashable as a blog when he was 19 years old, living with his parents in Scotland. Despite its rapid success—attracting more than 20 million unique visitors each month—Cashmore does have a life outside the office.
"I think the measure of our work is in our productivity, not the number of hours we put in,” Cashmore wrote for CNN. "I'll take family over developing the 'next big thing' anyway."
#29 Jessica Herrin
Company: Stella & Dot
Age: ~40
The former WeddingChannel.com and Dell exec is equally style- and business-savvy. "Nine-to-five just doesn't flatter," she says, so she created a social-based boutique jewelry and accessory sales company that gives women entrepreneurial opportunities through in-home boutique trunk shows.
The crafty tech entrepreneur has rock-climbed in Thailand, scuba-dived in Egypt, and learned to cook in Italy, but calls home her favorite destination.
#28 Kazuo Hirai
Company: Sony Corporation
Age: 52
In his 18 months as CEO, Hirai's steadfast leadership has increased Sony's revenues: its TV business turned profitable, its latest smartphones and digital cameras received positive reviews, and the impending release of PlayStation 4 is generating a ton of buzz.
Hirai, who's been with Sony since 1984, stood up to hedge fund honcho Dan Loeb by (so far) refusing to spin-off the company's entertainment assets.
#27 Natalie Massenet
Company: Net-A-Porter
Age: 47
Massenet entered an already saturated industry and still managed to make it big; her booming luxury fashion company is estimated to be worth about $561.5 million.
And, as the CEO, she's naturally very fashionable herself. Named one of the world's most glamorous women by Vogue, Massenet is the daughter of an American journalist and English Chanel model.
#26 Ben Kaufman
Company: Quirky
Age: 26
Kaufman's parents remortgaged their home when he was 18 so he could build his iPod accessories company Mophie. Today, he molds minds and product prototypes through his startup Quirky, an online community that votes on invention ideas and finances winning projects.
Kaufman's also a softie. When naming the ways Quirky has changed his life, he said, "It has given me faith in the creative and inventive spirit of humanity."
#25 Angela Ahrendts
Company: Burberry
Age: 53
The Indiana-born businesswoman raked in $26.2 million this year, making her Britain's highest-paid executive, and the first woman to hold the top honor. She transformed the century-old brand into a tech-savvy fashion powerhouse, and oversaw Burberry's viral Spring/Summer 2013 campaign.
Ahrendts also holds her own on the runway, standing at 6'3" in stilettos.
#24 Tue Mantoni
Company: Bang & Olufsen
Age: 38
Mantoni says that in Japan, colleagues pronounce his Danish first name as "Tue-san," which means "early sun." It's awfully appropriate for someone who, as a teen, got up at midnight to work extra shifts as a paperboy and who, today, still works long hours running a top-of-the-line home and automative sound equipment company.
In his spare time, the B&O CEO is an ultra-marathoner.
Previously, Mantoni revved up sales as the CEO of Triumph Motorcycles.
#23 Matt Maloney
Company: GrubHub Seamless
Age: 38
Maloney followed his gut in creating the leading restaurant takeout delivery service, which now operates in 500 cities across the country. "The way I see it, hunger drives the entrepreneur: hunger for the next great idea, validation, challenge, competition, success," he said.
This year, Maloney became CEO of Grub Hub Seamless after the two companies merged in August.
#22 Dylan Lauren
Company: Dylan's Candy Bar
Age: 39
When she was 16, her father Ralph Lauren wanted to name a perfume "Dylan" but she told him she needed to reserve her name for when she built my own brand. Then in 2001, she launched the self-proclaimed world's largest candy store.
Lauren balances her sugar cravings with an active lifestyle, and wrote her book, "Unwrap Your Sweet Life," on her Blackberry while exercising on the stair mill.
#21 Daymond John
Company: FUBU (For Us By Us)
Age: 44
John started out working as a roadie for Run DMC and LL Cool J. He said he "couldn't rap or sing," but he's always loved fashion, which is why he started FUBU.
John got his first investors through an ad he posted in the New York Times, and the connections he made that way put FUBU on the fashion map. Since FUBU was launched John has totaled more than $4 billion in sales. John now also serves as a judge and investor on the ABC show "Shark Tank."
#20 Clara Shih
Company: Hearsay Social
Age: 31
This tech entrepreneur founded a social sales and marketing platform, Hearsay Social, and later replaced Sheryl Sandberg on the Starbucks Board of Directors.
Shih is mega-smart: she graduated number-one in her computer science program at Stanford and holds an MS in Internet studies from Oxford. Her New York Times bestseller, "The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Market, Sell and Innovate," is used as a textbook at Harvard Business School.
#19 Ben Lerer
Company: Thrillist Media Group
Age: 31
At Thrillist, a leading lifestyle website for young, urban men, Lerer has worn all the hats: founder, editor, programmer, salesperson, and more.
He also launched a venture capital firm with his dad Ken Lerer, co-founder and chairman of Huffington Post.
"We actually started Lerer Ventures as an excuse to spend more time together," he told Forbes. Aww!
#18 Claire Chambers
Company: Journelle
Age: 33
After a successful career in management consulting, Chambers let her frustration at the lack of quality lingerie in New York City guide her next business endeavor, "the anti-Victoria's Secret."
The fashion-forward retailer experienced double-digit growth over the recession, which Chambers credits to the merchandise's ability to make women feel polished and powerful. She told the Fashion Spot, "Even if I were a nun, I'd be wearing lingerie."
#17 Frédéric Oudéa
Company: Société Générale
Age: 50
Oudéa stepped in as CEO amidst scandal and used his cool, calculated self-confidence to lead one of France's largest banks through an era of punishing cutbacks.
He travels the world, plays tennis, collects Danish and Flemish art, and leaves his office door open for employees.
#16 Zhang Xin
Company: SOHO China
Age: 48
Zhang Xin is the definition of someone who's worked her way to the top. As a child growing up in China she worked in factories to save money for the University of Sussex in England. Now she's the CEO of SOHO China, a company she founded with her husband which has become the largest commercial real estate developer in Beijing.
The billionairess refuses to fly first class, even though she can easily afford to. And she's had a brief stint in movies, having made a cameo appearance as a Chinese executive in the 2010 film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps."
#15 Chris Salgardo
Company: Kiehl's Since 1851
Age: ~40
Looking good, feeling good is Salgardo's business. The high-end cosmetics exec is an avid motorcyclist and oversees the company's LifeRide for amfAR, a multi-day charity ride that raises funds and awareness to end the AIDS epidemic.
He served as Grand Marshall of the NYC Pride Parade in 2012 and is a self-described "power bear, "evidenced by his "furry face."
#14 Desiree Rogers
Company: Johnson Publishing Co.
Age: 54
The former White House Social Secretary was ousted when she let party crashers into Obama's first state dinner. She made a splashy comeback, however, as the CEO of a major publishing house, promoting the African-American magazines Ebony and Jet.
Rogers was handpicked by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve on the board of Choose Chicago, a non-profit that markets the city to tourists and convention planners.
#13 David Karp
Company: Tumblr
Age: 27
Karp created the short-form blogging platform in reaction to Facebook, which he regards as “insanely restrictive.” He sees Tumblr as a reflection of New York's rich creativity, and never wants to leave: "That is so much of what Tumblr is, a media network, a home for tens of millions of creators."
The recent Williamsburg transplant (and one-time J.Crew model) sold his company to Yahoo for $1.1 billion earlier this year. Not bad for a high school dropout.
#12 Marissa Mayer
Company: Yahoo
Age: 38
During her 12 years at Google, the giggly tech guru climbed the ranks as the first female engineer to Vice President. As Yahoo's new chief executive, Mayer overhauled its photo-sharing site Flickr, redesigned the home page, and acquired Tumblr.
The Silicon Valley giant recently turned heads with a glamorous photo spread in the September Issue of Vogue.
#11 Jack Dorsey
Company: Square
Age: 36
Though he may be more famous for founding Twitter, Dorsey is also the founder and CEO of Square, a mobile payments company.
The St. Louis, Missouri, native is known for being a bit of a rebel: He has a 9-inch S-shaped tattoo which depicts both an integral and the musical notation for F-sharp, representing his lifelong interests in math, anatomy, and music.
Dorsey is also very interested in politics, and has said he he aspires to become mayor of New York.
#10 Tory Burch
Company: Tory Burch
Age: 47
Burch built a multi-billion dollar fashion empire in less than a decade, making the distinct double-T logo synonymous with prep-chic. The newly-minted, self-made billionaire is known for her demure demeanor, classic style, and voracious tweeting.
She empowers other women through the Tory Burch Foundation, which invests in women-owned businesses and provides mentorship to girls.
#9 Ben Rattray
Company: Change.org
Age: 33
Rattray founded his social good company Change.org in 2007, and it quickly grew into the world's largest online petition platform. His company has made such an impact that Rattray made TIME's 2012 list of the world's 100 most influential people and Fortune's 40 Under 40 list.
Despite his immense success, Rattray maintains a modest lifestyle, living with three roommates and driving a 1996 Toyota Camry, according to SF Gate.
#8 Jennifer Hyman
Company: Rent the Runway
Age: 32
Hyman got the idea for Rent the Runway when her sister just had nothing to wear. The business-savvy fashionista started an online fashion retailer—"the Netflix of couture"—with a close friend at Harvard Business School, and today they have more than 3 million members. And the company is continuing to grow: it recently launched fashions for plus-sized women.
The recently-single CEO (she called off her wedding three days before the date) said she's embodied by "mini skirts, hot pink and sparkle."
#7 Ralph Gilles
Company: SRT Motorsports
Age: 43
Gilles is lucky enough to have the awesome job of heading Chrysler's racing division. Not only does he spend a lot of time with cars, but he also spends a fair bit of time, as evidenced by his Twitter handle, with celebs like Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson, whose movies feature muscle cars.
But he's also gotten into spats with celebrities too, like when he lashed out against Donald Trump (a man you do not want to get into a fight with) for hating on Chrysler. Still, it shows he's loyal to his brand.
#6 Andy Dunn
Company: Bonobos
Age: 34
After graduating from Stanford Business School, Dunn turned down a job at a venture capital firm to sell great-fitting pants to men with Bonobos. The online retailer was considered a huge risk at the time, during the first wave of e-commerce, but since then the Chicago native has managed to charm venture capitalists into giving $72 million toward the company.
He says his proudest moment was when Crain's New York named Bonobos the 16th Best Place to Work in the U.S.
[Can we get a better picture of him? This one's just ok]
#5 Alexa Von Tobel
Company: LearnVest
Age: 29
Von Tobel, a former Morgan Stanley trader and Harvard Business School drop-out, calls her company "Weight Watchers for money." She's built an easy-to-follow online guide and community that makes managing finances easier than ever.
When not running LearnVest, she shares her wealth of financial knowledge as a contributing writer for Inc. magazine and Huffington Post.
#4 Jeremy Stoppelman
Company: Yelp
Age: 35
The Harvard Business School dropout founded Yelp in 2004 with the help of Russel Simmons, a former colleague of his at PayPal.
Stoppelman had always been interested in tech and business ever since he was a kid; at the age of 14 he opened a Schwab account and started investing in stocks using the money he earned doing chores.
#3 Hayley Barna & Katia Beauchamp
Company: Birchbox
Ages: 29 and 30
Co-CEOs Barna and Beauchamp have received a ton of buzz over the innovative idea and exponential growth of their curated personal care delivery company, Birchbox. Last year the two launched Birchbox Man, branching out into another eager consumer demographic.
Beauchamp and Barna launched the company after meeting at Harvard Business School. The rest, as they say, is history.
#2 Elon Musk
Company: Tesla/SpaceX
Age: 42
Musk made headlines with two major announcements this year: first he announced plans to build a driverless car, and then he proposed designs for the Hyperloop, a new mode of transportation that can get people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes.
Naturally running not one, but two revolutionary companies keeps Musk very busy (in addition to raising five sons), but his employees are in awe of him, hailing him an "amazing visionary" who is "crazy smart."
#1 Sophia Amoruso
Company: Nasty Gal
Age: 29
The hip, tattooed 29-year-old started Nasty Gal as an eBay store specializing in cool vintage women's clothing in 2006. Since then, the website has grown tremendously with more than $100 million in sales and more than 550,000 customers around the world. Last year the company was named the fastest-growing retailer by Inc magazine, which also named Amoruso to their 30 Under 30 list this year.
Probably the most amazing thing of it all is that Amoruso had never worked in fashion before Nasty Gal—she was just a well-dressed young woman (and a college dropout) with a good eye for fashion.
Learn more about the CEOs.
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