Title: CEO

Company: REI

Bio: As the CEO of REI, Sally Jewell represents the lions share of all of the skis, snowboards, jackets and goggles sold in North America each year, especially in the Northwest and Rocky Mountain region. But the fact that the major retailer is also a co-op puts Jewell in a unique position as a lobbyist and advocate for the preservation of our present venues of recreation, and as a strong proponent of our access to public lands. On top of that, Sally is a flat out wonderful, super smart, and amazingly inspiring person. But, for this list it is all about shelf space, and Sally has got it.

Title: CEO

Company: Backcountry.com

Bio: It's not every day that a ski bum and an ex-ski jumper start a company, blow it up and then pass the reigns to their female COO.  In short, this is the story of how Jill Layfield, an internet startup and numbers guru rose to CEO status at the outdoor gear online retailer that runs nine e-commerce stores, has more than 700 employees, and requires a state of the art distribution center to house some 1,000 brands. When Jill began at Backcountry in 2004 she was the Director of Customer Marketing, a role in which she was responsible for 75% of Backcountry's revenue, which grew sevenfold over her five year term - at which point she was wisely given more power and promoted to the Vice President of Product Management. As VP of Product Management, Layfield led the company's product strategy and execution to ensure the best user experience possible. She distinguished herself as a formidable strategist in this role, and in March of 2010, she was promoted to COO. Now, nearly one year later, she is taking on a challenge for which she has been uniquely trained. After six years of exposure to and influence on all aspects of the business, she is Backcountry's CEO - in charge of running day-to-day operations and leading the company to the next iteration of what it means to be the best core gear retailer.