Forbes_USA_June_13_2017

21. Jayshree Ullal
$840 MILLION S
AGE: 56 RESIDENCE: SARATOGA, CALIFORNIA
The Arista Networks CEO’s fortune increased by $370 million in the past
year, as the enterprise tech firm’s stock doubled. Born in London and
raised in India, Ullal owns 7% of the shares, including some earmarked for
her children, niece and nephew. The $1.1 billion (sales) company has faced
litigation from Ullal’s former employer Cisco Systems over alleged patent
infringement and from Arista cofounder David Cheriton’s firm, Optum-
Soft, over intellectual property ownership. Arista denies all the allegations.
26. Safra Catz
$670 MILLION S
AGE: 55 RESIDENCE: REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA
Oracle co-CEO, who met with the President-elect at Trump Tower in December
2016 alongside a group of Silicon Valley executives, joined his
transition team, leading one Oracle executive to publicly resign in protest.
An 18-year Oracle veteran, Catz has served as co-CEO since September
2014 and is one of the world’s highest-paid female executives, earning
$40.9 million in 2016. She is credited with spearheading Oracle’s aggressive
acquisition strategy, helping close more than 100 deals since 2005.
23. Weili Dai
$770 MILLION S
AGE: 55 RESIDENCE: LOS ALTOS
HILLS, CALIFORNIA
29. Vera Wang
$630 MILLION S
AGE: 67
RESIDENCE: NEW YORK CITY
22. Nancy
Zimmerman
$800 MILLION S
AGE: 53 RESIDENCE: BOSTON
Cofounder and managing partner
of Bracebridge Capital,
Zimmerman is the richest female
hedge fund founder in
the U.S. Her Boston-based firm
manages over $10 billion in assets
for endowments, pensions
and high-net-worth individuals,
and counts Yale University
as one of its clients. The Brown
alumna started Bracebridge in
1994 after a stint at Goldman
Sachs, where she ran an interest
rate options group.
24. Sheila Johnson
$750 MILLION S
AGE: 68
RESIDENCE: THE PLAINS, VIRGINIA
After Black Entertainment Television,
cofounded by Sheila and
husband Robert, was sold to
Viacom for $2.4 billion in 2001,
the couple divorced. She has
since sold off her shares and invested
in hotels and golf courses
in Florida and Virginia. She also
owns homes in New York City
and Palm Beach, a horse farm
and stakes in the WNBA Mystics,
NBA Wizards and NHL Capitals.
Former president of Marvell
Technology, a semiconductor
company, is diversifying since
getting the boot in April 2016,
after the company alleged that
she encouraged the recognition
of revenues prematurely. Dai
and her husband, Sehat Sutardja,
who was fired as CEO, bought
a slew of Vegas properties in the
past year, including more than
200 units at a luxury residential
complex and a penthouse at the
Trump International Hotel, where
the pair reportedly now live. The
couple founded the $2.3 billion
(sales) company in 1995. They
remain its largest shareholders.
24. Neerja Sethi
$750 MILLION T
AGE: 62 RESIDENCE: FISHER
ISLAND, FLORIDA
Cofounder of IT consulting and
outsourcing firm Syntel. Her
fortune dropped after shares in
the company, which relies on
the financial and health care
sectors, plunged 59% in a year.
Sethi started the firm with her
husband, Bharat Desai, in 1980.
Today the $967 million (sales)
company employs nearly 23,000
people, 80% in India .
27. Kathy Fields
$650 MILLION S
AGE: 59
RESIDENCE: SAN FRANCISCO
27. Katie Rodan
$650 MILLION S
AGE: 61
RESIDENCE: SAN FRANCISCO
Sales at Fields (above) and Rodan’s
skin-care company surpassed
$1 billion for the first time
in 2016. Revenue at the firm,
known for its antiaging products
and its multilevel marketing
sales model, has increased more
than 800% in the past five years.
It plans to expand from the U.S.
and Canada to Australia later
this year. The women, both dermatologists,
met in 1984 when
they were residents at Stanford.
Their first venture together was
acne treatment Proactiv, which
they licensed to Guthy-Renker
in 1995. The pair sold their rights
to royalties in 2016. They started
Rodan + Fields in 1990, sold
it to Estée Lauder in 2003 and
bought it back in 2007.
“We kept turning
down dark corners,
and there was a lot
of failure along the
road to this ultimate
success.” —Kathy Fields
The designer, best known for
bridal gowns, was a competitive
figure skater and then a
Vogue editor for 16 years before
launching her namesake boutique
in 1990. Apart from her
high-end fashion label, Wang
has lucrative licensing deals with
Zales, Kohl’s and David’s Bridal.
She lives at 740 Park Avenue,
built by the grandfather of
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Wang’s maternal grandfather,
Wu Junsheng, was reportedly a
warlord in a Chinese army.
30. Tory Burch
$600 MILLION T
AGE: 50
RESIDENCE: NEW YORK CITY
Art-history grad worked with
designers Ralph Lauren and
Vera Wang before opening a
boutique in New York City’s
Nolita neighborhood in 2004.
Her eponymous lifestyle brand
is best known for its Reva ballet
flats but also sells handbags,
watches, beauty products
and activewear such as ruffled
sneakers. The stocks of midprice
fashion outfits have fallen
out of favor with investors,
pushing down Forbes’ estimate
of her company’s value. The
Tory Burch Foundation, which
she launched in 2009 to promote
entrepreneurship among
women, is collaborating with
her Tory Sport division to offer
special-edition bracelets and T-
shirts encouraging women to
embrace ambition; proceeds go
to her foundation. Her fiancé,
Pierre-Yves Roussel, is CEO of
LVMH Fashion.
WEALTH STATUS: UP S DOWN TUNCHANGED X NEW +
JUNE 13, 2017 FORBES | 89