17.

Sandra Ortega Mera

Net worth: $6.5 billion
Age: 46
Source Of Wealth: Zara
Residence: La Coruna, Spain
Citizenship: Spain
Marital Status: Married
Children: 3
Sandra Ortega Mera is the daughter of the fourth-richest person in the world, Amancio
Ortega, founder of clothing giant Inditex. She inherited her fortune from her mother
Rosalia Mera, who died suddenly in August 2013. Sandra got 89% of Rosp Corunna, the
holding company Mera used to invest her wealth. The organization supports vocational
training for people with mental and physical disabilities and it advocates moving them
into mainstream jobs. Sandras brother Marcos was born with cerebral palsy. She has a
psychology degree from the Universidad de Santiago and lives a fiercely private life in
the Galician town of La Corua on the Atlantic coast with her husband and three kids.
16. Eva Gonda de Rivera
Net worth: $7.6 billion
Source Of Wealth: Beverages
Residence: Monterrey, Mexico
Citizenship: Mexico
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 5
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher
Education
Eva Gonda Rivera is the widow of Eugenio Garza Laguera, the former chair of FEMSA,
Latin Americas biggest independent Coca-Cola bottler and distributor. It has operations
in 9 Latin American countries. Eugenio, who died in 2008, left his large stake to his wife
Eva and four daughters. The company is making greater inroads in the drugstore retail
market after it acquired Farmacias Farmacon, a leading pharmacy chain in northern
Mexico, in December 2014, for an undisclosed price. Gonda Rivera and her daughters
tend to eschew the spotlight in Mexico.

15. Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler

Net worth: $6.6 billion
Age: 73
Source Of Wealth: Ball bearings
Residence: Herzogenaurach, Germany
Citizenship: Germany
Marital Status: Widowed
The stereotype of financially conservative Germans having an aversion to leverage
doesnt apply to Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann and her only son, Georg Schaeffler.
Theyre proprietors of Schaeffler Group, which encompasses Schaeffler AG, one of the
worlds largest producers of ball bearings and machine components. In 2008, the
company announced a $15-billion, debt-financed takeover of publicly traded tire and
auto parts giant Continental AG. Marie-Elisabeth is a member of Continentals
supervisory board and vice chair of Schaefflers supervisory board.

14. Margarita Louis-Dreyfus

Net worth: $8.4 billion
Age: 52
Source Of Wealth: Commodities
Residence: Zurich, Switzerland
Citizenship: Switzerland
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 3
Education: LLB, Moscow State University
Chairman of the French commodities behemoth Louis Dreyfus, Margarita Louis-Dreyfus
took over the company when her husband Robert died after a long battle with leukemia
in 2009. Shes made big changes in recent years, selling the companys energy trading
business in 2012, shaking up management and publicly declaring her intention to
increase her stake. The company has been hunting for a CEO since April 2014,
announcing in late December that negotiations with top-candidate and former Viterra

head Mayo Schmidt fell through. Margarita and Robert married in 1992 after meeting on
a plane; it was a second marriage for both.

13. Carrie Perrodo (Extreme Right)

Net worth: $8.5 billion
Age: 64
Source Of Wealth: Inherited
Residence: London, United Kingdom
Citizenship: France
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 3
Singapore native Ka Yee (Carrie) Wong was already a top model when she met French
entrepreneur Hubert Perrodo in the early 1970s. At the time Perrodo was traveling the
world drilling for oil and gas. Soon they got married. Sharing the entrepreneurial bug,
Carrie launched her own agency, Carries Models, while Hubert started his first business.
Hubert and Carrie enjoyed the good life; he was a keen polo player and wine lover who
bought up Bordeaux vineyards including Chateau Labegorce. Carrie sold Carries Models
years ago, but the agency remains active to this day.

12. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken

Net worth: $11.6 billion
Age: 60
Source Of Wealth: Heineken
Residence: London, United Kingdom
Citizenship: Netherlands
Marital Status: Married
Children: 5
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Rijnlands Lyceum Wassenaar; Doctor of
Jurisprudence, University of Leiden

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken is one of the richest women in the world, thanks to her
25% controlling stake in Dutch brewer Heineken, which she inherited from her late
father, Freddy Heineken, a decade ago. The company sells more than 170 premium
brands in more than 65 countries. After a decade-long seclusion, the Heineken heiress
broke her silence. In a magazine interview she recounted the pressure of assuming her
fathers role and guiding the company after his 2002 death. Her most important
decision? Finding a new CEO for Heineken, Jean-Franois van Boxmeer.

11. Gina Rinehart

Net worth: $12.3 billion
Age: 61
Source Of Wealth: Mining
Residence: Perth, Australia
Citizenship: Australia
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 4
Australian mining heiress Gina Rinehart is queen of the global iron-ore trade. She
controls Hancock Prospecting, which has added oil and gas to its portfolio. In March 2014
she finalized her biggest deal yet: $7.2 billion in funding from a group of global banks
and credit agencies to develop Roy Hill, one of the worlds largest iron-ore mines;
Hancock owns 70%. Rinehart inherited her holdings from her late father, Lang Hancock.
She has been involved in a long-running legal feud with her children over ownership of
assets.

10. Abigail Johnson

Net worth: $13.4 billion
Age: 53
Source Of Wealth: Money management
Residence: Milton, MA
Citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2

Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Hobart and William Smith; Master of Business
Administration, Harvard University
Abigail Johnson replaced her father, Edward Ned Johnson III, as CEO of Fidelity in
October 2014, becoming the third-generation Johnson to lead the asset manager. Fidelity
is the nations second-largest mutual fund company (behind Vanguard) with nearly $2
trillion in assets under management. Abigails grandfather Edward Johnson II founded the
company in 1946. She got an MBA at Harvard, then started full time as an analyst.
Johnson owns an estimated 24% stake in the company.

9. Iris Fontbona
Net worth: $14.1 billion
Age: 72
Source Of Wealth: Mining
Residence: Santiago, Chile
Citizenship: Chile
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 3
Iris Fontbona is the widow of Andronico Luksic, who built a fortune in mining, beverages
and more and died of cancer in 2005. He left his businesses to his wife and his three
sons: Jean-Paul, Andronico and Guillermo (who died in 2013 of lung cancer at age 57).
Fontbona and her children control Antofagasta Plc, which trades on the London Stock
Exchange and owns copper mines in Chile.

8. Johanna Quandt
Net worth: $13.5 billion
Age: 88
Source Of Wealth: BMW
Residence: Bad Homburg, Germany
Citizenship: Germany
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 2

Ranking second behind her daughter among Germanys richest women, 88-year-old
Johanna Quandt was first secretary and then third wife of the late, venerated German
executive Herbert Quandt. Since 1999, Johanna has received over $1.6 billion in (pre-tax)
BMW dividends. Known in Germany for shying from the public eye, she lives quietly in
Bad Homburg vor der Hoehe, a town near Frankfurt am Main known for its healing
mineral waters and spas. In 2009, the German government recognized Johanna Quandt
for the cultural and social contributions she has made in support of journalism and
education.
7. Susanne Klatten
Net worth: $16.5 billion
Age: 53
Source Of Wealth: BMW, pharmaceuticals
Residence: Bad Homburg, Germany
Citizenship: Germany
Marital Status: Married
Children: 3
Education: Master of Business Administration, International Institute for Management and
Development
Susanne Klatten, 52, ranks as Germanys richest woman thanks primarily to the 12.6%
stake she inherited in automaker BMW from her late father, Herbert Quandt. Susanne,
her brother Stefan Quandt and her mother Johanna Quandt together own about 50% of
BMW. A trained economist with an M.B.A., Klatten is credited with helping transform
Altana AG, based in the German town of Wesel on the Lower Rhine, into a world-class
pharmaceutical/specialty chemical corporation. She inherited 50% of the company,
which has been a phenomenal money maker and currently derives about 85% of its $2
billion in annual sales from foreign customers.

6. Anne Cox Chambers

Net worth: $16.9 billion
Age: 95
Source Of Wealth: Media
Residence: Atlanta, GA
Citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Divorced
Children: 3
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Finch College

The surviving daughter of Cox Enterprises founder James M. Cox (d. 1957), Anne Cox
Chambers is majority owner of a privately-held media empire clocking $17 billion in
annual revenues. Cox includes Cox Communications (cable, broadband), Cox Media
Group (newspapers, TV, radio stations) and Cox Automotive (AutoTrader.com, Manheim
car auctions, online car sales, Kelley Blue Book). In 2014 the company announced that it
had bought back 25% of AutoTrader.com from Providence Equity Partners. This increases
Coxs stake to 98% of AutoTrader.com. Chambers was ambassador to Belgium under
President Jimmy Carter and holds the
French Legion of Honor title.

5. Laurene Powell Jobs

Net worth: $20.1 billion
Age: 51
Source Of Wealth: Apple, Disney
Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 3
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School; Master
of Business Administration, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of the late Steve Jobs, is making a name for herself as a
political and social influencer. She is the founder and chair of the Emerson Collective, an
organization that focuses on using entrepreneurship to advance social reform and help
under-resourced students, and College Track, a nonprofit college completion program. In
conjunction with President Obamas My Brothers Keeper program, Emerson Collective
and its partners announced a $50 million commitment in July 2014 to collaborate with
certain school districts to design better high school programs.
4. Jacqueline Mars
Net worth: $26.6 billion
Age: 75
Source Of Wealth: Candy
Self-Made Score: 2
Residence: The Plains, VA
Citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Divorced
Children: 3
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Bryn Mawr College
Jacqueline Mars and her two brothers, Forrest Jr. and John, own the secretive ($33 billion)
candy maker Mars. All three siblings serve on its board of directors, but the family has no
role in day-to-day operations. Their grandfather Frank started Mars in 1911 in his

Tacoma, Washington kitchen. Their father Forrest Sr. joined in 1929, around the time the
firm invented the malt-flavored nougat inside Milky Way and Snickers. M&Ms started in
1941 and during WWII the candies were sold exclusively to the military. Mars also makes
Uncle Bens rice and pet food brands Pedigree and Wiskas. Jacqueline is a trustee of the
U.S. Equestrian Team and sits on the board of directors of the National Sporting Library
and Fine Art Museum.
3. Alice Walton
Net worth: $36.6 billion
Age: 65
Source Of Wealth: Wal-Mart
Residence: Fort Worth, TX
Citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Divorced
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Trinity University
Alice Walton is an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune. Her father Sam founded the retailer back
in 1962. With her billions, she has long focused on curating art, culminating in the
opening of the Crystal Bridges Art Museum in her hometown of Bentonville, Ark., in 2011.
In 2014, she reportedly agreed to purchase a New Jersey home designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright and have it moved down to the museums campus. In 2014 she donated $25,000
to establish a political super-PAC supporting a U.S. presidential bid by Hillary Clinton.
2. Liliane Bettencourt
Net worth: $42.1 billion
Age: 92
Source Of Wealth: LOreal
Residence: Paris, France
Citizenship: France
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 1
LOreal grand dame Liliane Bettencourt grew even richer in 2014 thanks to a deal in
which she purchased an additional 8% stake in the cosmetics empire from Nestle, raising
her and her familys chunk of LOreal stock to 33%. Her father, Eugene Schueller,
founded LOreal in 1907. The elderly widow, who suffers from dementia, was replaced on
the companys board by her 25-year-old grandson Jean-Victor Meyers in 2012. A trial of
ten people who allegedly stole hundreds of millions of euros from Bettencourt began in
January 2015. She remains the richest woman in Europe.

1. Christy Walton

Net worth: $39.1 billion

Age: 60
Source Of Wealth: Wal-Mart
Residence: Jackson, WY
Citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: 1
Christy Walton is the wealthiest woman in the world, a title she has held for 5 out of the
past six years. She married into what became the richest family in the world the
Waltons and inherited her wealth when her husband John Walton, a former Green
Beret and Vietnam war medic, died in an airplane crash in 2005. Shes the wealthiest of
the Waltons thanks to an investment John made in solar panel maker First Solar. The bulk
of her holdings are in Wal-Mart, the huge retailer founded by her father-in-law Sam
Walton and his brother James in 1962.She leads a very private life in Jackson, Wyoming,
but in 2013 had a rare bit of publicity when she was given an award by the Imagen
Foundation for producing the film Bless Me, Ultima, based on the book by Rudolfo
Anaya, who is considered the father of Chicano literature.