Julie Wainwright

The RealReal, Inc.

As founder and CEO of The RealReal, Julie Wainwright created one of the most successful online luxury consignment sites. With $288 million in funding raised, Julie believes The RealReal will become a billion-dollar business in the next few years. She, was an early tech entrepreneur and e-commerce pioneer and headed up Reel.com, an online video site, in 1997 before taking over as CEO of Pets.com in 1999. A now symbolic case study of the dot.com boom and bust, the site collapsed after going public in 2000, losing $300 million of capital investment. In the wake of its failure, Julie was involved with a number of other online start-ups, before launching The RealReal in 2011. She earned her BSGM from Purdue University.

Year appointed: 2011