When Forbes launched our first ever list of America’s richest self-made women in 2015, it was a deliberate move to spotlight more female entrepreneurs, executives and entertainers.
by Kerry A. Dolan for Forbes
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It was in part a reaction to what we weren’t seeing in our other lists: There were —and still are — so few women founders on the lists of the World’s Billionaires and The Forbes 400 richest Americans. In 2014, there were just 29 self-made women, compared to 1,043 self-made men, on the World’s Billionaires list. Forbes defines “self made” to mean a fortune that was built from someone’s own efforts (with help from other cofounders or employees, of course) as opposed to a fortune that was inherited from someone else.
This year we highlight 100 women, double the number on our inaugural 2015 list and up from 80 a year ago, in recognition of the critical roles these leaders play as job creators, change-makers and influencers across many industries.
Number one for the third year in a row is roofing entrepreneur Diane Hendricks, worth $8 billion. With her husband, she founded ABC Supply, which has grown to become one of the largest U.S. wholesale distributors of roofing, siding and windows. She has run the company, which had $11 billion in 2019 revenues, since her husband’s death in 2007. Behind her at No. 2 is Judy Faulkner, who founded $3.2 billion (2019 sales) medical-records software firm Epic in 1979. The governor of Wisconsin called on Epic this spring for help coordinating pandemic-related communication and services and the company has been donating its telehealth and remote-monitoring software to the state.
List members this year range in age from 23 to 94, and are worth a combined $90 billion. The minimum net worth to make Forbes’ sixth annual ranking is $150 million. Twenty-one are billionaires, down from 25 last year. The fortunes of 37 members who were on last year’s list are up this year, eight are unchanged and 30 have fallen in value. Nearly half, or 45, live in California, followed by New York with 14. Twenty-three were born outside of the U.S., in countries ranging from Japan to Barbados.