Diane Hendricks
Born
Diane Marie Smith

1947 (age 76–77)
Wisconsin, U.S.
Occupation(s)Co-founder and chair, ABC Supply
Political partyRepublican
SpouseKen Hendricks (deceased)
Children7

Diane Marie Hendricks (née Smith; born 1947) is an American billionaire, businesswoman, and film producer from Wisconsin.[1] She is the widow of the late businessman Ken Hendricks.[1][2]

Early life

Hendricks was born in Mondovi, Wisconsin,[3] and raised in Osseo, Wisconsin,[2] the daughter of dairy farmers.[4] She had her first child at the age of seventeen, and worked as a Playboy Bunny to pay her bills.[5] She graduated from Osseo-Fairchild High School in 1965, and had been divorced from her first husband for ten years when she met Ken Hendricks.[6]

Career

In 1975, she was selling custom-built homes and Ken was a roofer’s son and high school dropout.[4] They married and became business partners. In 1982, they used their lines of credit to secure a loan that enabled them to establish ABC Supply, the nation's largest wholesale distributor[7] of roofing, windows, gutters, and siding for residential and commercial buildings.[6]

Hendricks owns the Hendricks Holding Company, and is the owner and chairperson of ABC Supply.[1][8][9] In March 2012, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$2.8 billion,[8] and $11.1 billion as of August 2021.[10][2][11][12] In 2018, Forbes ranked Hendricks the US's richest self-made woman.[13]

Hollywood producer

She has produced movies, including The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008), about an execution in an Iranian village, An American Carol (2008), and Snowmen (2010).[9][14][15][16][17]

Political donations

She donated $500,000 to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's 2012 campaign to avoid recall, and was his biggest donor that year.[8] She also supported Paul Ryan.[9] In 2014, she donated $1 million to the Freedom Partners Action Fund, a pro-Republican Super PAC created by the Koch Brothers.[18] In both 2015 and 2016, she donated $2 million to Freedom Partners Action Fund.[19] In 2015, she gave $5 million to a PAC associated with presidential candidate Scott Walker, of which $4 million was ultimately refunded.[20]

In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, she gave over $5 million to the Reform America Fund, a super PAC which opposed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and supported Republican U.S. Senator from Wisconsin Ron Johnson.[21] Hendricks served as an economic advisor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign.[22][23]

Prior to Scott Pruitt's resignation in July 2018, she donated $50,000 to the Scott Pruitt Legal Expenses Trust.[24]

Hendricks contributed a total of $1.1 million to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.[25]

Hendricks contributed to the campaign of Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.[26]

Tax controversies

Hendricks paid no state income tax in four of the five years from 2010 to 2014.[27]

An investigation by Urban Milwaukee found that Hendricks's multi-story 8,500-square-foot home in the Town of Rock in Rock County, Wisconsin, had been assessed as a 1,663-square-foot ranch.[28] Following the Urban Milwaukee investigation, Hendricks denied the tax assessor access to the property, citing "security reasons". After she agreed to supply the assessor with data on the home, the property's assessment was changed from $445,700 to $1,205,500.[29]

Personal life

Hendricks has seven children and lives in Afton, Wisconsin.[1][2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Our Team: Diane Hendricks". Hendricks Holding Co., Inc. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Diane Hendricks Net Worth". CelebrityNetWorths. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  3. ↑ IWF 2017 Annual Awards Gala Remarks: Diane Hendricks
  4. 1 2 Goldstein, Amy (2017). Janesville: An American Story. New York City, NY: Simon and Schuster. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-5011-0228-8.
  5. ↑ McGrath, Maggie. "Meet The Most Successful Female Entrepreneur In American History". Forbes. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  6. 1 2 Zipkin (as told to), Amy (November 21, 2009). "The Business Must Go On". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  7. ↑ McGrath, Maggie. "Meet The Most Successful Female Entrepreneur In American History". Forbes. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 Spivak, Cary (May 30, 2012). "Beloit billionaire pays zero in 2010 state income tax bill". Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Romell, Rick (December 25, 2010). "Widow a power in Beloit, beyond". Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Forbes profile: Diane Hendricks". Forbes. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  11. ↑ Ten Questions For Diane Hendricks, Forbes, 11.04.10
  12. ↑ "Diane Hendricks". Forbes. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  13. ↑ "America's Richest Self-Made Women". Forbes. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Diane Hendricks Producer". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  15. ↑ Dickinson, Hilary (May 24, 2010). "Hollywood comes to Beloit". Beloit Daily News. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  16. ↑ Holden, Stephen (June 25, 2009). "An Iranian Village Mob and a Wife's Execution". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  17. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (October 4, 2008). "An Iranian Village Mob and a Wife's Execution". Variety. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  18. ↑ Vogel, Kenneth; Allen, Mike (October 14, 2014). "Koch donors uncloaked". Politico. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Freedom Partners Action Fund Contributors, 2016 cycle". OpenSecrets.
  20. ↑ "Million-Dollar Donors in the 2016 Presidential Race". The New York Times. February 9, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  21. ↑ Bice, Daniel (October 25, 2016). "Bice: 5 donors pump $1.7 million into pro-Johnson PAC". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  22. ↑ Arnsdorf, Isaac (October 27, 2016). "Another super PAC spends millions against Clinton". Politico. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  23. ↑ Titus, Elizabeth (August 16, 2016). "Trump adds Hendricks Scaramucci as Economic Policy Advisors". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  24. ↑ Guillén, Alex (February 5, 2019). "Pruitt legal fundraising started months before his exit". POLITICO. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  25. ↑ "Here Are The Billionaires Who Donated To Donald Trump's 2020 Presidential Campaign". Forbes. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  26. ↑ "Wisconsin billionaire Hendricks donated to QAnon believer Greene". Wisconsin Examiner. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  27. ↑ Cary Spivak. "Beloit billionaire posts string of zeros on state returns". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 9, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  28. ↑ Horne, Michael (May 17, 2017). "Hendricks Not Paying Property Taxes?". Urban Milwaukee. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  29. ↑ Murphy, Bruce (June 1, 2017). "Hendricks' Home Is Reassessed". Urban Milwaukee. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
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