Meet the seven Wisconsinites on Forbes' list of the 400 richest people in America

Forbes' 2023 list of the "400 Richest Americans" features some of the world's most famous names, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Seven Wisconsin residents also made this year's list.

So, who are these wealthy Wisconsinites, and how did they make their money?

Home improvement chain founder John Menard, Jr., is the richest person in Wisconsin

John Menard, Jr., 83, is the richest person in Wisconsin and the 33rd-richest person on the Forbes list. The Eau Claire resident's estimated net worth is $22.5 billion.

Menard founded the Menards home improvement store chain in Eau Claire in 1960. It is now a competitor to Home Depot and Lowe's and has over 350 stores across the United States, from Wyoming to Ohio. These include nearly four dozen Wisconsin locations. Menards brings in an estimated $13 billion in sales.

Menard has also been involved in IndyCar racing since the 1980s. He sponsored the winning car at the 2019 Indy 500, his first win in nearly 40 years of involvement in racing, Forbes reported.

Diane Hendricks: Owner of ABC Supply in Beloit, Hendricks is among the richest women in the U.S., estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.1 billion. Hendricks has been playing an active civic role in Beloit, leading initiatives in economic development and the arts. She's politically active, making large campaign donations. She's also involved in movie financing.

ABC Supply co-founder Diane Hendricks is the richest self-made woman in America

Diane Hendricks, co-founder of the Beloit-based ABC Supply roofing and building supplies company, is the 38th-richest American on the list, with an estimated net worth of $19.3 billion.

Early this year, Hendricks also topped Forbes' 2023 list of the 100 richest self-made women in America for the sixth year in a row.

ABC Supply is the largest wholesale distributor of roofing supplies and one of the largest distributors of siding and windows in North America. The company has over 900 branch locations and had $18.5 billion in revenue in 2022.

Hendricks founded ABC Supply in Beloit in 1982 with her late husband Ken. Since Ken's death in 2007, Hendricks has been the chair and sole owner. Hendricks currently resides in Afton and is a donor and advocate for conservative political causes.

Epic System founder and CEO Judy Faulkner is worth over $7 billion

With an estimated net worth of $7.4 billion, Judy Faulkner, the founder and CEO of the Verona-based medical-record software provider Epic Systems, is the 128th-richest American on Forbes' list. Faulkner was also named the third-richest self-made woman in America by Forbes earlier this year.

Epic had $4.6 billion in revenue in 2022. It currently supports the medical records of over 305 million patients and is used by top medical centers, including Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic. In 2022, hospitals using Epic's software held the medical records of 78% of U.S. patients.

Faulkner, a computer programmer with a master's degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, founded Epic in a Madison basement in 1979 with just two assistants and $70,000. Today, the company employs over 13,000 people.

Faulkner resides in Madison. In 2014, she signed the Giving Pledge, agreeing to eventually donate 99% of her assets to charity.

Global food corporation heir James Cargill, II, is worth an estimated $5 billion

James Cargill, II, age 74 of Birchwood, ranks 224th on Forbes list, with an estimated net worth of $5 billion.

Cargill is one of 12 billionaire heirs to Cargill, America's second largest private company after Koch Industries, Forbes reported. The Minneapolis-based Cargill company is often described as an "agribusiness giant" and did $177 billion in 2023 sales across food, agriculture, financial and industrial divisions.

Cargill's great-grandfather, W.W. Cargill, founded the business as a single grain warehouse on the end of an Iowa railroad line in 1865. Following W.W.'s death in 1909, his son-in-law John MacMillan saved the company from crisis and brought it into stability.

Today, the Cargill-MacMillan family is one of the 10 richest billionaire families in the United States. According to Insider, as of 2020, about 23 members of the family owned at least 88% of the company, and 14 of these 23 family members were billionaires as of 2015.

Siblings and SC Johnson heirs Helen Johnson-Leipold, S. Curtis Johnson and H. Fisk Johnson are each worth at least $4.8 billion

Siblings Helen Johnson-Leipold, 66, S. Curtis Johnson, 68, and H. Fisk Johnson, 65, rank 227th and tie for 238th, respectively, on Forbes' list.

The Johnson siblings are heirs to the family-owned cleaning products company SC Johnson, which their great-great-grandfather Samuel Curtis Johnson founded in 1886. Today, the company is known for its brands like Windex, Off!, Drano and Pledge, and has $11 billion in estimated revenues, Forbes reported.

Johnson-Leipold has an estimated net worth of $4.9 billion, while her two brothers are each worth an estimated $4.8 billion. All three siblings reside in Racine, according to Forbes.

Johnson-Leipold is the chair and CEO of Johnson Outdoors, a publicly traded company that sells outdoor gear, as well as the chair of the Johnson Financial Group, which includes family-owned Johnson Bank.

Fisk Johnson is currently the chairman and CEO of SC Johnson and is the fifth generation in his family to lead the company.

S. Curtis Johnson was chair of the industrial cleaning company Diversey until he stepped down in 2011 following an arrest. In 2014, he was sentenced to four months in jail and fined $6,000 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor sexual assault of his stepdaughter, Forbes reported.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Seven Wisconsinites made Forbes' 2023 '400 Richest Americans' list