The sexiest CEOs alive

#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 endeavour, '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 Frederic Oudeo

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 $US1.1 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 maths, 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 Gillies

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 $US72 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.

#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 and Katia Beauchamp (pictured: Hayley Barna)

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 $US100 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.