Diane Hendricks
American businesswoman; co-founder and owner of the building-products distributor ABC Supply and a major Republican donor
| Diane Hendricks
| |
|---|---|
| Image | .jpg) Diane Hendricks |
| Born | 2 March 1947 (Forbes) |
| Nationality | American |
| Residence | Afton, Wisconsin, United States (Forbes) |
| Occupation | Businesswoman |
| Known for | Co-founder and owner of ABC Supply; Hendricks Holding Co. |
| Spouse(s) | Ken Hendricks (died 2007) |
| Children | 7 (Forbes) |
Diane Hendricks (born 1947) is an American businesswoman who co-founded the building-products distributor ABC Supply with her husband Ken Hendricks in Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1982.[1][2] She has chaired the company since his death in 2007, and Forbes describes her as its owner.[3] ABC Supply, which is privately held, describes itself as North America's largest wholesale distributor of roofing and other building products, with more than 1,000 locations.[2] On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Diane Hendricks 111th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$23.58 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Building supplies.[3][4] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Diane Hendricks 113th, at US$22.3 billion.[5] She is a longtime Republican fundraiser and donor. FEC filings for 2021–2026 record more than $80 million in contributions from her, much of it to committees including MAGA Inc., and by 2012 she was the largest donor to Scott Walker's campaign for governor of Wisconsin.[6][7][8]
Early life
Forbes gives her date of birth as 2 March 1947 and says she grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm, one of nine sisters. It adds that she sold custom homes for a builder before meeting her husband Ken, a roofer.[3]
ABC Supply and Hendricks Holding
According to ABC Supply, Ken and Diane Hendricks started the business in 1982 by buying three supply centres from Bird & Sons, which became the first branches of American Builders and Contractors Supply.[9] Sales reached $1 billion in 1998.[9] Its largest acquisitions were Bradco Supply, with 128 locations, in 2010 and Chicago-based L&W Supply, with 136 locations, in 2016; it entered Canada in 2022.[9] The company reports more than 1,000 locations and more than 20,000 employees.[2] Forbes puts its 2025 revenue at $20.2 billion.[3] The couple also founded Hendricks Holding Co., whose portfolio spans manufacturing, distribution, real estate development, construction, recycling and life sciences.[1]
Wealth
Forbes lists building supplies as her source of wealth and classes her as self-made.[3] A 2016 Trump campaign release described her as chairwoman and sole owner of ABC Supply.[10]
Wealth history
Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 19 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2008. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list, and, where applicable, the rank and estimate in the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans.[5][3]
| Year | World's Billionaires rank | Net worth (US$ bn) | Forbes 400 rank | Forbes 400 net worth (US$ bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 368 | 3.0 | 163 | 2.5 |
| 2009 | 334 | 2.0 | 158 | 2.0 |
| 2010 | 488 | 2.0 | 170 | 2.1 |
| 2011 | 540 | 2.2 | 188 | 2.2 |
| 2012 | 418 | 2.8 | 142 | 2.9 |
| 2013 | 353 | 3.8 | 103 | 4.4 |
| 2014 | 325 | 4.6 | 151 | 3.6 |
| 2015 | 481 | 3.6 | 159 | 3.7 |
| 2016 | 262 | 5.1 | 150 | 3.8 |
| 2017 | 460 | 3.9 | 122 | 4.9 |
| 2018 | 334 | 5.5 | 76 | 6.8 |
| 2019 | 257 | 6.3 | 79 | 7.0 |
| 2020 | 211 | 6.9 | 84 | 7.0 |
| 2021 | 308 | 8.0 | 64 | 11.0 |
| 2022 | 183 | 10.7 | 51 | 12.2 |
| 2023 | 130 | 13.7 | 38 | 19.3 |
| 2024 | 92 | 20.9 | 38 | 21.9 |
| 2025 | 92 | 21.9 | 44 | 22.3 |
| 2026 | 113 | 22.3 | 48 | 23.6 |
Philanthropy
The Hendricks Family Foundation, whose board consists of family members, began in 2004 with an initial gift of $1 million. It says ABC Supply has since given it more than $65 million, used mainly in Beloit.[11] Forbes says she has spent millions on local economic development, including rebuilding whole blocks of Beloit.[3]
Political activity
ABC Supply's profile describes her patriotic and conservative values as highly important to her.[1] In May 2012 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on a documentary video, filmed on 18 January 2011, in which she asked Governor Scott Walker whether Wisconsin could become a "completely red state" and a right-to-work state. Walker replied that his first step would be to "divide and conquer" through his budget bill restricting public-sector collective bargaining. The paper reported that she had since given $510,000 to Walker's campaign, making her his largest donor and the largest known donor to a candidate in Wisconsin history.[8]
In August 2016 the Trump campaign added her to its economic advisory council. NPR described her as one of several longtime Republican fundraisers on it.[10][6] In the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election she gave the Republican Party of Wisconsin $970,000 in January, according to AP. The Badger Project put the figure at $975,000 on 17 January plus a further $100,000. She also gave the maximum $20,000 to the campaign of the candidate Brad Schimel.[12][13]
The largest recipients in the FEC records retrieved for this profile, covering 2021–2026, were committees named MAGA Inc. and Make America Great Again Inc. ($42 million combined), Wisconsin Truth PAC ($19 million), Turnout for America ($11 million) and Club for Growth Action ($4.5 million).[7]
Across the 58 non-memo records retrieved for the 2022–2026 cycles, the filtered total is US$84,690,900 (a lower bound). The largest recipient committees, as named in the filings, were MAGA INC. (US$27,000,000), WISCONSIN TRUTH PAC (US$19,000,000), MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN INC. (US$15,000,000), TURNOUT FOR AMERICA (US$11,000,000), CLUB FOR GROWTH ACTION (US$4,500,000).[7]
| Cycle | Total (US$, lower bound) | Records | Largest recipient committees (as filed with the FEC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $25,043,300 | 22 | WISCONSIN TRUTH PAC ($19,000,000); CLUB FOR GROWTH ACTION ($4,500,000); SCALISE LEADERSHIP FUND ($526,800); MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AGAIN! INC. ($450,000) |
| 2024 | $33,607,200 | 24 | MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN INC. ($15,000,000); TURNOUT FOR AMERICA ($11,000,000); MAGA INC. ($2,000,000); FIX WASHINGTON PAC ($1,779,800) |
| 2026 | $26,040,400 | 12 | MAGA INC. ($25,000,000); REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE ($680,100); DEFEND OUR MAJORITY ($182,000); NRSC VICTORY ($144,300) |
Controversies and legal issues
See the 2011 Walker video under Political activity.[8]
International and political links
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Other international links
Canada: at company level, ABC Supply expanded into Canada in 2022.[9]
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ABC Supply, Diane M. Hendricks (corporate officer profile) ABC Supply (official website), undated; read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 ABC Supply, Fact Sheet ABC Supply (official website), undated; read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Forbes, Forbes profile record for Diane Hendricks (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/diane-hendricks/) Forbes, live record, read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 NPR, After Criticism, Trump Adds Women To His Economic Advisory Team NPR, 11 August 2016, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 U.S. Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC Schedule A (itemised individual contributions) query, contributor name "HENDRICKS, DIANE"; 2026 cycle shown in link, the 2022, 2024 and 2026 cycles were queried together with the same parameters; top 100 records by amount; records filtered by employer/occupation and name, memo entries excluded U.S. Federal Election Commission, data as filed; queried 20 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Jason Stein and Patrick Marley, In film, Walker talks of 'divide and conquer' union strategy Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10 May 2012, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 ABC Supply, History and Milestones ABC Supply (official website), undated; read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Trump-Pence campaign (archived by Democracy in Action / P2016), Trump Campaign Announces Additions to Economic Advisory Council (press release) P2016 (Democracy in Action), 11 August 2016, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Hendricks Family Foundation, Our Commitment To Beloit Hendricks Family Foundation (official website), undated; read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Associated Press, Political parties, megadonors drop money on Wisconsin Supreme Court race Associated Press, 11 February 2025 (as updated), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Peter Cameron, Billionaires from both sides flooding Wisconsin Supreme Court race with cash The Badger Project, 6 March 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.