Diane Hendricks, chief executive officer of ABC Supply Co., smiles during a company meeting at a hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, U.S. on Wednesday, March 4, 2015.decided she wanted to work in the business world. It took years to achieve that goal, and decades for her career to build a fortune.list for the seventh consecutive year. Her estimated $20.9 billion net worth comes largely from her roofing materials company ABC Supply, which she co-founded with her late husband Ken Hendricks in 1982.
They took out a $900,000 loan from Beloit Savings Bank and pledged everything they owned to launch their company and fill that gap, Hendricks said. "We felt like we weren't being treated with respect," said Hendricks. "That was part of our goal ... to build a company that would the guy in the pickup truck, and provide service and respect to ."Even before the Beloit, Wisconsin-based company grew to 900-plus locations, starting the company felt like a dream, Hendricks said.
Then, after getting pregnant at age 17, she finished her senior year of high school from home. Instead of going to college, she worked a variety of jobs — even waitressing as a Playboy Bunny for a year — while trying to build a career in real estate.