Diane Hendricks


Diane Marie Hendricks is an American billionaire businesswoman and film producer from Wisconsin. She was married to now deceased businessman Ken Hendricks.

Early life

Hendricks was born and raised in Wisconsin, the daughter of dairy farmers. 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.

Career

In 1975, she was selling custom-built homes and Ken was a roofing contractor. 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, a company that sells roofing, windows, gutters, and siding for residential and commercial buildings.
Hendricks owns the Hendricks Holding Company, and is the owner and chairperson of ABC Supply. In March 2012, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$2.8 billion, and $7.8 billion as of July 2020.
In 2018, Forbes ranked Hendricks the US's richest self-made woman.

Philanthropy

She is a donor to WisconsinEye, and co-chair of Rock County 5.0, a five-year public/private initiative to advance Rock County's economic development vision. She has served on the boards of the Stateline Boys & Girls Club, Beloit Memorial Hospital, the Beloit Foundation, Forward Janesville, Kandu Industries, Blackhawk Bank, and the Hendricks Family Foundation. Hendricks serves on the board of trustees of Beloit College.

Hollywood producer

She has produced movies, including The Stoning of Soraya M., about an execution in an Iranian village, An American Carol,, and Snowmen,.

Political donations

She donated $500,000 to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's 2012 campaign to avoid recall, and was his biggest donor that year. She also supports Paul Ryan. In 2014, she donated $1 million to the Freedom Partners Action Fund, a pro-Republican Super PAC created by the Koch Brothers. In both 2015 and 2016, she donated $2 million to Freedom Partners Action Fund. In 2015, she gave $5 million to a PAC associated with presidential candidate Scott Walker, but has had $4 million refunded.
In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, she gave over $5 million to the Reform America Fund, a super PAC which has opposed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and supported Republican U.S. Senator from Wisconsin Ron Johnson. Hendricks served as an economic advisor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Prior to Scott Pruitt's resignation in July 2018, she donated $50,000 to the Scott Pruitt Legal Expenses Trust.

Tax controversies

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

Personal life

She has seven children and 17 grandchildren, and lives in Afton, Wisconsin.