- Name: Jimmy Rane
- Business: Great Southern Wood
- Estimated Net Worth: $1B
How It Started: Rane and his brother took their family’s company and turned it into a well-known staple in the building industry, YellaWood.
How It’s Going: In addition to the constant revitalization of his hometown, The Jimmy Rane Foundation provides college scholarships through education grants.
Personal Quote: “I will hire somebody with character and integrity every single time over somebody who is brilliant.”
- Name: Leonard Hyde
- Business: Real Estate
- Estimated Net Worth: $300M
How It Started: Hyde and his business partner were successful in creating a very lucrative real estate empire with holdings in Alaska, Utah, and Florida.
How It’s Going: Previously an oil and gas engineer, Hyde has become active in several philanthropic endeavors including the Alaska Museum of History and Art.
Fact: Although he’s the wealthiest person in Alaska, he’s among the poorest on this list of millionaires and billionaires.
- Name: Ernest Garcia, II
- Business: Carvana / DriveTime Automotive
- Estimated Net Worth: $3.8B
How It Started: Garcia has made a fortune in the used car industry; but was previously convicted on S&L fraud in 1991. Garcia served his time and then bought out a little Ugly Duckling car business and flipped it into a huge business with an IPO and some bravery in selling cars online.
How It’s Going: Garcia holds investments closely and not a lot is known about where or how the family spends their money. They do hold a foundation that is committed to making the world a brighter place through arts, education, and cultural incentives.
Fact: Garcia’s father was a liquor store owner and one-time mayor of Gallup, New Mexico.
- Name: Jim Walton
- Business: Walmart, Former CEO of Arvest Bank
- Estimated Net Worth: $60B
How It Started: Jim Walton inherited much of his wealth from his father and American icon Sam Walton, founder of Walmart. Jim owns 13% of Walmart.
How It’s Going: Jim donates through Walton Family Foundation and is primarily endowing the construction of charter schools.
Fact: Jim is shy and prefers to be out of the limelight.
- Name: Mark Zuckerberg
- Business: Facebook (now known as Meta)
- Estimated Net Worth: $97B
How It Started: You may have heard of a little social media app founded way back in early 2004 on the Harvard campus. Originally set up as a “hot or not” website, Zuckerberg quickly rose to fame and fortune in creating an international platform.
How It’s Going: When he’s not spending millions on defending himself and his business, The Zuckerberg Foundation is working toward achieving racial equity.
Personal Quote: “The biggest risk is not taking any risk...in a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
- Name: Charles Ergen
- Business: Co-founder of DISH Satellite television and telecommunications
- Estimated Net Worth: $13B
How It Started: DISH (Digital Sky Highway) was founded in 1980 as Echostar, a telecommunications company that now includes SlingTV.
How It’s Going: Interestingly enough, Ergen is well known for his frugality. His office is furnished with second-hand couches, and he does not fly first class.
Fact: He is a member of the Colorado Mountain Club and has climbed all of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, as well as Kilimanjaro and Everest.
- Name: Ray Dalio
- Business: Bridgewater Associates
- Estimated Net Worth: $20.3B
How It Started: Dalio got his start as a clerk on the New York Stock Exchange and future broker at Shearson Hayden Stone.
How It’s Going: Dalio has joined with other philanthropists in the Giving Pledge, where they vow to donate at least half of their financial assets in their lifetimes. Dalio is particularly focused on philanthropy related to oceans and humans' effects on them.
Personal Quote: (on being on the bad end of a business deal) “As a result, I began seeking out the smartest people I could find who disagreed with me so that I could understand their reasoning.”
- Name: Robert Gore
- Business: GoreTex inventor
- Estimated Net Worth: $830M
How It Started: Gore is an American engineer and scientist who earned fortune and fame as the inventor of "Gore-Tex", a waterproofing material used in everything from shoes to cable covering.
How It’s Going: Before his death in 2020, the focus of his philanthropy was the University of Delaware and the University of Minnesota.
Fact: As a sophomore, Bob helped create a PTFE-insulated ribbon cable containing multiple copper conductors, later called "Multi-Tet Cable”, which became a standard in IBM Systems and the Apollo spacecraft to connect to the seismograph placed on the moon.
- Name: Thomas Peterffy
- Business: Interactive Brokers
- Estimated Net Worth: $25B
How It Started: Interactive Brokers provides services and support for the online trading of things like stocks and bonds. It's estimated that they perform over 2,793,000 trades per day.
How It’s Going: Thomas founded the Peterffy Foundation in 2015, which is a grantmaking nonprofit that works to support the living forest project and the efforts to reform international laws around conservation and protection of the environment through indigenous rights.
Fact: Peterffy arrived in America in 1965 at age 21, the penniless descendant of Hungarian aristocrats who lost nearly everything to the Soviets.
- Name: Jim Kennedy
- Business: Cox Enterprises, which owns AutoTrader, Kelley Blue Book, and other media brands
- Estimated Net Worth: $9.4B
How It Started: Kennedy began his career with Cox Enterprises in 1972, working in a variety of media roles. He rose through the ranks of Cox Newspapers over the years, eventually reaching the position of general manager/vice president of operations in Atlanta.
How It’s Going: As a prolific philanthropist, Kennedy supports a number of causes including the Colorado Wildlife Commission, Georgia State University, and prostate cancer research.
Fact: He was inducted into the Technology Association of Georgia's Technology Hall of Fame in 2016.
- Name: Larry Ellison
- Business: Oracle
- Estimated Net Worth: $108B
How It Started: While working at Ampex in the early 1970s, he became influenced by Edgar F. Codd's research on relational database design for IBM. This led him to found the company that would eventually become Oracle.
How It’s Going: As a member of The Giving Pledge, Ellison supports multiple medical centers as well as defense projects in Israel and USC.
Fact: Ellison also owns the 43rd largest island in the United States, Lanai.
- Name: Frank VanderSloot
- Business: Melaleuca Inc.
- Estimated Net Worth: $4.3B
How It Started: VanderSloot founded the consumer marketing company Melaleuca Inc, which sells nutritional supplements, cleaning supplies, and personal-care products. Melaleuca sells products directly to independent marketers, who earn a commission on any of the company's products sold.
How It’s Going: The Melaleuca Foundation has been a financial contributor to the Santa Lucia Children's Home (Hogar Santa Lucia), an orphanage in Quito, Ecuador. VanderSloot personally flew to Louisiana in 2005 to help with rescue and clean-up after Hurricane Katrina.
Fact: VanderSloot is the father of fourteen children through two marriages.
- Name: Ken Griffin
- Business: Citadel, a global investment fund
- Estimated Net Worth: $11.7B
How It Started: In 1990, Griffin founded Citadel LLC, with assets under management of $4.6 million, aided by contributions from Frank Meyer.
How It’s Going: After netting such incredible wealth, Griffin donates to a number of causes including education, poverty, arts, and religion. In the past few years, he has donated millions of dollars towards COVID-19 detection and prevention, as well as the development of a vaccine.
Fact: Griffin outbid a group of crypto investors to purchase the last privately held copy of the United States Constitution.
- Name: Carl Cook
- Business: Cook Group, a longtime maker of medical equipment
- Estimated Net Worth: $8.7B
How It Started: Carl has several years of experience working in the company, including its pacemaker division and Winston Salem plant. Since its beginnings, the company has grown to produce more than 16,000 different products for hospitals.
How It’s Going: He is also credited for restoring and owning the French Lick Resort, which includes the West Baden Springs Hotel, Casino, and French Lick Springs Hotel.
Fact: The last thing he worked on was a Doppler blood flow monitor for reconstructive surgery.
- Name: Harry Stine
- Business: The Stine Seed Company
- Estimated Net Worth: $4B
How It Started: Stine made his fortune in the state's substantial corn and soybean industries. The Stine Seed Company – originally founded in the 1950s by Stine's father as Stine Seed Farm – today owns hundreds of patents in soybean and corn genetics and does over $1 billion in sales annually.
How It’s Going: His goal: the seed market–a $44 billion worldwide industry that supplies crop growers with the essential element they use to plant, harvest and sustain the world’s food supply–is expected to grow massively as crops fortified with more resilient genetics improve yield and efficiency. That’s good news since the world’s population continues to grow by about 85 million every year, while arable land remains scarce.
Fact: During his childhood, He didn’t know it then–and wouldn’t for several more decades–but he suffered from dyslexia and mild, high-functioning autism.
- Name: Charles Koch
- Business: Koch Industries
- Estimated Net Worth: $51.9B
How It Started: Koch Industries dabbles in everything from paper to pipelines. Koch is also known for his donation to American political candidates.
How It’s Going: The Charles Koch Foundation partners with social entrepreneurs to remove the barriers that prevent people from reaching their potential. The brothers continue to be mired in the political scene and opposing environmental regulations.
Fact: His father was a founding member of the John Birch Society.
- Name: B. Wayne Hughes
- Business: Public Storage
- Estimated Net Worth: $2.8B
How It Started: Since opening the first self-storage facility in 1972, the company grew until it was the largest self-storage company in the world, with thousands of locations across the globe.
How It’s Going: Public Storage now focuses on ensuring that their thousands of locations are sustainable with as low an environmental footprint as possible.
Fact: Prior to his death, Hughes was an enormous presence in thoroughbred racing and breeding. His horse won both the 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic.
- Name: Gayle Benson (widow of Tom Benson)
- Business: The New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans
- Estimated Net Worth: $2.9B
How It Started: Husband Tom Benson owned several automobile dealerships in New Orleans before purchasing New Orleans Saints in 1985. The Saints' success started in 1986 with Jim Mora and has continued today through the leadership of Sean Payton. Upon his death, Benson’s ownership was passed to his wife.
How It’s Going: After losing their star quarterback Drew Brees to retirement, the Saints are rebuilding their team. The highlight of the 2021 season was a shutout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in December 2021.
Fact: Mrs. Benson began her professional career in 1968 as a manager for a noted New York-based costume jeweler.
- Name: Susan Alfond (daughter of Harold Alfond)
- Business: Heiress to the Alfond Family Fortune previously known as Dexter Shoe Company
- Estimated Net Worth: $1.6B
How It Started: The Dexter Shoe Company was founded by Alfond's ancestors and supplied products for big-name stores such as JC Penny and Sears. Alfond later created a company-branded line of shoes to expand the business.
How It’s Going: Dexter Shoe Company was purchased by Berkshire Hathaway, which folded in 2008. The Harold Alfond Foundation continues to fund charitable institutions and programs in the State of Maine. Susan has continued the family's focus on philanthropy.
Fact: The Alfond Foundation awards every single Maine resident baby $500 to start a college fund.
- Name: Ted Lerner
- Business: Lerner Enterprises, largest private landowner in Washington DC
- Estimated Net Worth: $5B
How It Started: In 1952, he borrowed $250 from his wife and founded the real estate company Lerner Enterprises in Rockville, Maryland. It operates primarily throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolis.
How It’s Going: The Lerner family is the majority owner of several Washington sports teams, including the Capitals, Mystics, Wizards, the Nationals, and Capital One Arena. The Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation provides support to many organizations
Fact: During law school, Lerner sold real estate on weekends to help support his widowed mother and younger siblings.
- Name: Abigail Johnson
- Business: Fidelity Investments
- Estimated Net Worth: $16.4B
How It’s Going: In the new century, Fidelity reached a milestone $1 trillion in assets under management. The company focuses specifically on strengthening the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations.
Quote: “The reason why we exist hasn’t changed since our founding…to strengthen and secure our clients’ financial well-being.”
- Name: Hank and Doug Meijer (sons of Fred Meijer)
- Business: Meijer Grocery
- Estimated Net Worth: $7B
How It Started: Meijer's Grocery was founded in 1934 and was responsible for several firsts in the world of grocery stores, including shopping carts and the concept of a supercenter.
How It’s Going: Hank and Doug, both in their 60s, still serve on the board of the company, which has an estimated $19.5 billion in sales.
Fact: Meijer pioneered the idea of one-stop shopping, now the staple of competitors like Walmart.
- Name: Glen Taylor
- Business: Taylor Corp, a printing services company
- Estimated Net Worth: $2.8B
How It Started: The Taylor Corporation began all the way back in 1959 when Taylor began work for Carlson Wedding Services, ultimately working almost every job in the company, setting him up for success with the Taylor Corporation.
How It’s Going: The Taylor Corporation has continued to grow and acquire other businesses over the years, making them one of the biggest names in the wedding industry.
Fact: Taylor has purchased ownership stakes in several Minnesota sports teams, including the NBA's Timberwolves and the new MLS franchise Minnesota United.
- Name: James and Thomas Duff (sons of Ernest Duff)
- Business: Southern Tire Mart
- Estimated Net Worth: $1.2B
How It Started: Southern Tire Mart was founded by Ernest Duff, an attorney by trade. He created the largest independent commercial tire dealership in North America.
How It’s Going: The success of Southern Tire Mart led to the creation of Duff Capital Investors. Under the leadership of the Duff brothers, this company has grown its revenue to more than $2 billion.
Fact: The Duff family are both proud Mormons and proud alumni of the University of Southern Mississippi.
- Name: Stanley Kroenke
- Business: Real estate developer and husband of Walmart Heiress Ann Walton
- Estimated Net Worth: $8.8B
How It Started: Kroenke owns Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, as well as interests in the LA Rams, Arsenal FC, Denver Nuggets as well as the Grand Prix of Denver, MLS Colorado Rapids, and Denver Avalanche.
How It’s Going: Today, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) and Ticketmaster announced a long-term partnership to bring the latest venue and ticketing technology to all Denver-based KSE teams and venues including the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, Colorado Mammoth, Pepsi Center, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Paramount Theater and 1STBANK Center.
Fact: Kroenke is a somewhat reclusive man who prefers to avoid the spotlight. He is popularly known as "Silent Stan" because he almost never gives interviews to the press.
- Name: Dennis Washington
- Business: Washington Companies
- Estimated Net Worth: $6B
How It Started: Dennis Washington founded The Washington Companies, which are a group of companies related to a wide number of industries, from transportation to mining.
How It’s Going: In 1988, Envirocon was founded to serve the growing demand for environmental remediation. With the Washington Companies’ success and expertise in heavy construction, building environmental remediation capabilities with Envirocon flowed naturally from the visionary leadership, financial strength, construction skills, and equipment resources within the organization
Fact: Despite living in landlocked Montana, Washington owns four boats.
- Name: Warren Buffett
- Business: Berkshire Hathaway
- Estimated Net Worth: $105B
How It Started: When he was 10 years old, he had lunch with someone from the New York Stock Exchange and began setting his goals for his entire life. He had a paper route and used the money from that to buy some Oklahoma farmland. By the time he was a sophomore in high school, he was running a successful pinball machine business.
How It’s Going: Warren Buffett has pledged to give away 99% of his net worth to charity before he dies. 83% of the money will go to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Fact: He earned 99% of his net worth after his 50th birthday.
- Name: Miriam Adelson (widow of Sheldon Adelson)
- Business: Casinos
- Estimated Net Worth: $38.2B
How It Started: Sheldon Adelson was the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which he purchased in 1989 at age 55. He owned more than half of the $14B gambling empire that had casinos in Las Vegas, Singapore, and Macao, China. Miriam Adelson took control of the corporation after Sheldon's death.
How It’s Going: Sands pioneered the convention-based Integrated Resort with the opening of The Venetian Resort Las Vegas in 1999. If you’ve seen Crazy Rich Asians, then you’ve seen one of their properties—the building with the “boat” on the top in Singapore.
Fact: Originally from Israel, Adelson served as a medical officer in the Israeli army before studying genetics and medicine in college.
- Name: Rich Cohen (grandson of Israel Cohen)
- Business: C&S Wholesale Grocers
- Estimated Net Worth: $11.2B
How It Started: C&S was founded by Cohen's grandfather all the way back in 1918.
How It’s Going: C&S has continued to thrive over all those years and currently provides more than 140,000 products to over 6,500 clients.
Fact: Rick Cohen is one of the most humble and under-the-radar billionaires in the world. He lives in a relatively modest $1.5 million house in Keene, New Hampshire and does all his own grocery shopping.
- Name: John Overdeck
- Business: Two Sigma Investments
- Estimated Net Worth: $6B
How It Started: Two Sigma was created to bring science to finance. Overdeck has a passion for machine learning and wanted to bring that to a new industry.
How It’s Going: In addition to his company, Overdeck is a notable philanthropist who gives to causes related to childhood education and poverty.
Fact: Overdeck was a math prodigy and won a silver medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad when he was 16.
- Name: Ron Corio
- Business: Array Technologies
- Estimated Net Worth: $1.1B
How It Started: Corio's company, Array Technologies, is a solar company that makes tracking systems for solar arrays to help them turn better towards the sun. The company went public in October of 2021.
How It’s Going: Engineered to withstand the harshest conditions on the planet, Array’s high-quality solar trackers and sophisticated software maximize energy production, accelerating the adoption of cost-effective and sustainable energy.
Quote: “I remember when people would comment that you couldn’t make a living building solar trackers, some even told me to get a “real job.” Well, it’s now a dream come true. I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years and to see it become mainstream, to see solar be the technology of choice for many power plants, and to see trackers as the technology of choice in those solar power plants – it’s phenomenal. It’s a great honor to be nominated for this award, especially because we are a solar company in a historically fossil fuel-dominated industry. It’s a sign of the times – demonstrating solar’s grid parity, and the transformation into the new renewable energy culture. I’m happy that I persevered the 30 years to see this happen and it’s great to be recognized. “
- Name: Michael Bloomberg
- Business: Bloomberg LP
- Estimated Net Worth: $60B
How It Started: Bloomberg got his start on Wall Street in the 1970s. After being laid off in the '80s, Bloomberg launched his own business, Innovative Market Systems.
How It’s Going: He won the NYC Mayor’s only three weeks after 9/11 and became the 108th mayor of New York City in 2002.
Fact: Bloomberg donated almost $2 billion to Johns Hopkins University to allow them to accept students unable to pay their tuition.
- Name: Tim Sweeney
- Business: Epic Games
- Estimated Net Worth: $7.4B
How It Started: Sweeney founded Epic Games in 1991 and has expanded the business to include more than 40 office locations across the globe.
How It’s Going: Today Epic is a leading interactive entertainment company and provider of 3D engine technology. Epic operates Fortnite, one of the world’s largest games with over 350 million accounts.
Fact: Even though he is wildly successful, some of his favorite things are Diet Coke and Bojangles.
- Name: Gary Tharaldson
- Business: Theralson Companies
- Estimated Net Worth: $1B
How It Started: Tharaldson founded a hospitality business in the 1980s, the Tharaldson Companies, that began with the purchase of a single Super 8 Motel.
How It’s Going: Now, the Tharaldson Companies have 81 hotels in 19 states with no signs of stopping. Their continued mission is "to operate the most profitable hotels in the world by hiring the brightest people and providing them with the tools and know-how to produce industry-leading bottom lines. We will constantly pursue this mission while never sacrificing the satisfaction of our guests or employees."
Fact: In 2003, Tharaldson was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame
- Name: Les Wexner
- Business: L Brands
- Estimated Net Worth: $6.1B
How It Started: L Brands, Inc. sells lingerie, personal care and beauty products, apparel, and accessories through its subsidiaries, including Victoria’s Secret, The Limited, Pink, Bath and Body Works, La Senza, C.O. Bigelow, White Barn Candle Co., and Henri Bendel.
How It’s Going: In the summer of 2021, L Brands spun off Victoria's Secret and other holdings, renaming itself Bath & Body Works.
Fact: As a philanthropist, Wexner has founded multiple charitable programs, including the Wexner Heritage Program and the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program.
- Name: George Kaiser
- Business: BOK Financial Corporation
- Estimated Net Worth: $13.8B
How It Started: BOK (Bank of Oklahoma) was acquired in 1991 from FDIC by George Kaiser. However, the bank itself has been in operation for more than 100 years.
How It’s Going: Beginning in 1994, BOK started expanding outside of the state of Oklahoma. Their most recent acquisition, CoBiz Financial, further expands into Colorado and Arizona.
Fact: Kaiser avoids publicity, does not attend society functions, and hardly ever gives interviews. While he owns homes in Tulsa and San Francisco, he is said to own no vacation homes, airplanes, or yachts.
- Name: Phil Knight
- Business: Nike
- Estimated Net Worth: $51.6B
How It Started: Nike was founded in 1964, but at the time it was known as Blue Ribbon Sports. The iconic Nike shoe line came along shortly in 1972.
How It’s Going: Look around any crowd and you’ll definitely see how it's going. These days, Nike is ubiquitous across the globe.
Fact: Before co-founding Nike, Knight sold Japanese running shoes from the trunk of his car.
- Name: Jeff Yass
- Business: Susquehanna International Group
- Estimated Net Worth: $12B
How It Started: The Susquehanna International Group of companies was founded in 1987 and is composed of several legally distinct trading and investment-related entities under common control, including Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP, Susquehanna Investment Group, Susquehanna Capital Group, SIG Brokerage LP, and Susquehanna Fixed Income, LP. The founders met at SUNY over a poker game.
How It’s Going: Susquehanna was an early backer of TikTok, which means that it now holds a huge stake in the company.
Fact: The company recruits and trains traders using poker tournaments to sharpen decision-making skills; its traders have won 3 World Series of Poker bracelets.
- Name: Jonathan Nelson
- Business: Providence Equity Partners
- Estimated Net Worth:$2.2B
How It Started: Nelson's firm specializes in leveraged buyout transactions as well as growth capital investments and has worked with more than 200 companies since its founding.
How It’s Going: Providence is a premier asset management that has made more than $45 billion in the business.
Fact: A member of The Giving Pledge, Nelson is an avid sailor and mountain skier.
- Name: Anita Zucker (widow of Jerry Zucker)
- Business: InterTech Group
- Estimated Net Worth: $1.9B
How It Started: Zucker took over InterTech after the death of her husband and founder of the company, Jerry Zucker.
How It’s Going: Zucker died in 2008, leaving his multi-million dollar company to his wife, Anita.
Fact: The daughter of a holocaust survivor, Zucker is a former elementary school teacher. Now she's the only billionaire in South Carolina.
- Name: T. Denny Sanford
- Business: First Premier Bank and its subsidiary Premier Bankcard,
- Estimated Net Worth: $1.3B
How It Started: Sanford and his company are infamous for their credit cards with incredibly high fees. Until a law was passed, Sanford's cards had a yearly fee of $256.
How It’s Going: Despite his questionable business practices, Sanford is an avid philanthropist, with an estimated donation total of more than $1 billion.
Fact: Sanford has given nearly $1 billion to Sanford Health, a group of 43 nonprofit hospitals formerly called the Sioux Valley Health System.
- Name: Dr. Thomas Frist, Jr.
- Business: HCA (Hospital Corp America)
- Estimated Net Worth: $20.4B
How It Started: In 1968, Frist helped form the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). At that time, HCA Healthcare was one of the first hospital companies in the United States. Many communities were quickly growing and needed more access to healthcare.
How It’s Going: Today, HCA is comprised of more than 180 hospitals and 2,000+ sites of care. HCA has also published several medical studies in peer-reviewed journals by conducting large-scale clinical research with partners including Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Fact: Frist helped donate the money necessary to construct the Frist Art Museum in Nashville and serves as its Director Emeritus.
- Name: Elon Musk
- Business: SpaceX/Tesla
- Estimated Net Worth: $185B
How It Started: Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 and then merged the business with Tesla Motors in 2004.
How It’s Going: Named Time’s Person of the Year, Musk is the richest man in the world. He sends rockets into space and wants to make life multi-planetary.
Fact: As a kid Musk taught himself to code; he sold his first game, Blastar, for about $500.
- Name: Gail Miller (widow of Larry Miller)
- Business: Larry H. Miller Group
- Estimated Net Worth: $1.9B
How It Started: Miller and her husband's chain of car dealerships began in 1979, and, these days, they're estimated to do almost $5.5 billion in business every year.
How It’s Going: A generous philanthropist, Miller has donated more than $60 million of her fortune to causes related to children and medical care.
Quote: "Coming up in a poor family, I learned an awful lot of things about living life that I would never have learned otherwise - things like how to create something out of nothing."
- Name: John Abele
- Business: Boston Scientific
- Estimated Net Worth: $3.3B
How It Started: Boston Scientific was created in 1979 after Abele met businessman Pete Nicholas.
How It’s Going: The company continues to produce medical products like stents and other things related to the heart.
Fact: His first job was at a light-fixture company in the Midwest.
- Name: Jacqueline Mars (heiress to the Mars fortune)
- Business: Mars Inc.
- Estimated Net Worth: $24.2B
How It Started: Mars is well-known across the globe for their numerous candy brands, including Snickers, Skittles, and Twix. They're also known for savory products, like Combos.
How It’s Going: Mars is currently in the process of phasing out artificial colors from all of its food products, opting for more natural choices instead.
Fact: Mars is a fan of both organic farming and horse riding. She is currently a trustee for the US Olympic Equestrian team.
- Name: Jeff Bezos
- Business: Amazon
- Estimated Net Worth: $177B
How It Started: On July 5, 1994, Bezos initially incorporated Amazon in Washington state under the original name Cadabra, Inc. After a few months, he changed the name to Amazon.com.
How It’s Going: Anyone with a computer knows how it's going at Amazon—with growth of over 4000%, Amazon owns roughly 43.5% of American online spending. In 2018, they rolled out their own delivery service to cut costs with shipping.
Fact: His biological father was a circus performer, and he took his stepfather's name.
- Name: Jim Justice
- Business: Bluestone Coal
- Estimated Net Worth: $1.2B
How It Started: Jim's father founded Bluestone in 1971, and the company went on to produce more than 500,000 tons of coal annually. Justice also owns a luxury resort in White Sulphur Springs.
How It’s Going: Justice is currently dealing with lawsuits related to the emissions related to his mining.
Fact: After being elected as Governor as a Democrat, he flipped parties.
- Name: John Menard, Jr.
- Business: Menards
- Estimated Net Worth: $10.9B
How It Started: Menards began in the late 1950s and continued to grow from there. It's currently the third-largest home improvement chain in the country.
How It’s Going: Despite only being in 15 states, Menards has grown to be one of the biggest home improvement stores in the United States.
Fact: Menard is a hardcore racing aficionado in both NASCAR and INDYCAR.
- Name: Hansjorg Wyss
- Business: Synthes
- Estimated Net Worth: $6.5B
How It Started: His company has researched and developed medical equipment for broken and fragmented bone repair.
How It’s Going: In 2012, Wyss sold the company for $19.7 billion in cash and stock to Johnson & Johnson.
Fact: Wyss is a hiker, skier, and backpacker. He’s heavily involved in outdoor education.
