Who are America's 15 self-made female billionaires?

As of 2026, Susan Ocampo and her family hold a $3.7 billion fortune rooted in MACOM Technology Solutions. After co-founding GaAsTEK with her late husband John Ocampo in 1998, the pair acquired MACOM during the 2009 downturn and took it public in 2012.

Meg Whitman built her $4.2 billion net worth as the transformative CEO who took eBay from a 30-person startup in 1998 to a global e-commerce titan. She later led Hewlett Packard Enterprise and served as U.S. Ambassador to Kenya through late 2024.

Computer scientist Weili Dai co-founded chip giant Marvell Technology Group in 1995, growing it into a premier silicon supplier for data centers and cloud infrastructure. As of 2026, her semiconductor and AI ventures value her at $4.7 billion.

Gail Miller and her late husband started with a single Utah auto parts store before building over 60 car dealerships and buying the Utah Jazz. After selling a majority stake in the NBA franchise for $1.66 billion in 2020, her fortune stands at $5.2 billion.

Lynda Resnick and her husband Stewart co-own The Wonderful Company, a $6 billion agricultural and consumer brand powerhouse. Known for turning POM Wonderful pomegranates, Wonderful Pistachios, and Fiji Water into household staples, she is worth $5.4 billion.

Armed with a PhD in electrical engineering, Peggy Cherng traded defense systems design for the restaurant business, opening the first Panda Express in 1983. She applied data-driven software logistics to scale the wok-fired chain to over 2,500 locations.

Arriving in the U.S. from Turkey with minimal English, Eren Ozmen earned her MBA in Nevada and joined aerospace firm Sierra Nevada Corporation. In 1994, she and her husband Fatih bought the 20-person company, scaling it into a multi-billion-dollar space giant.

Johnelle Hunt co-founded J.B. Hunt Transport Services in Arkansas in 1961 alongside her late husband, managing the books from day one. What began with five trucks evolved into one of North America's largest intermodal freight logistics empires.

As President and CEO of Arista Networks since 2008, Jayshree Ullal steered the company from a 50-person startup with no revenue to a historic 2014 NYSE IPO. Surging demand for high-speed AI data center switches has propelled her net worth to $6.8 billion.

Elizabeth Uihlein and her husband Richard founded Uline from their basement in 1980 after spotting demand for a humble cardboard box-sizing tool. Today, the Wisconsin-based company ships over 40,000 packaging products across North America.

Marian Ilitch invested her family's $10,000 life savings in 1959 to open a single pizza storefront in Garden City, Michigan. Today, her Ilitch Holdings empire encompasses Little Caesars Pizza, the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, and MotorCity Casino Hotel.

Born in Bangkok and raised in South Korea, Harvard MBA graduate Thai Lee acquired a tiny five-employee software division in 1989 for $1 million. Under her leadership, SHI International grew into one of North America's largest privately held IT providers.

Computer programmer Judy Faulkner coded the earliest version of Epic Systems in a Wisconsin basement in 1979. Refusing both venture capital and an IPO, she grew Epic into the medical records backbone storing health data for over 300 million patients.

A former literature major who rose to VP of Safety and Policy at OpenAI, Daniela Amodei co-founded Anthropic in 2021 alongside her brother Dario and five researchers. As President of the Claude AI maker, surging 2026 valuations make her worth $15.5 billion.

Raised on a Wisconsin dairy farm, Diane Hendricks co-founded roofing and siding distributor ABC Supply in Beloit in 1982. After her husband's passing in 2007, she refused buyout offers, acquired rival Bradco, and grew annual revenues past $20 billion.