These six Va. billionaires made Forbes’ 2024 richest Americans list

Six Virginia billionaires are among the 400 richest Americans, according to Forbes’ annual ranking, which the media company released Tuesday.

To make the Forbes 400 list, U.S. citizens had to have a minimum net worth of $3.3 billion — an increase of $400 million over 2023’s list.

Collectively, the members of this elite club are worth a whopping record $5.4 trillion, a nearly $1 trillion increase over 2023. A dozen individuals who made the list are worth more than $100 billion.

The top-ranking Virginian on this year’s list is heiress Jacqueline Mars, one of the family owners behind Virginia’s largest privately owned company, McLean-based candy and pet care empire Mars, which was started by her grandfather, Frank C. Mars. With a net worth of $47.6 billion, Jacqueline Mars, who lives in The Plains in Fauquier County, ranked No. 19 on the Forbes list. She owns an estimated third of the family business, where she worked for nearly two decades and served on its board until 2016.

Her niece, Pamela Mars, who lives in Alexandria, ranked as the 77th richest American, with a net worth of $11.9 billion. Pamela Mars started working at the family business in 1986 and currently serves as the family’s ambassador to the Mars pet care division.

Drop down to No. 283 on the Forbes list and you’ll find the third-ranking Virginian: Winifred J. Marquart of Virginia Beach, with a net worth of $4.7 billion. The great-great-granddaughter of S.C. Johnson & Son founder Samuel Curtis Johnson Sr., Marquart is president of the Johnson Family Foundation, which funds programs that help the environment, promote equality and support education and youth.

The fourth wealthiest Virginian on the Forbes rankings is Carlyle Group co-founder Daniel D’Aniello, who came in at No. 319 with a net worth of $4.3 billion. Since stepping down as chairman of Carlyle in 2018, D’Aniello, who lives in Vienna, retains the title of chairman emeritus of the global private equity firm where Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was CEO. A Vietnam War veteran, D’Aniello worked at Trans World Airlines, Pepsi and Marriott before co-launching Carlyle in 1987.

Bitcoin billionaire Michael Saylor, whom Forbes lists as living in the town of Vienna in Fairfax County but has said in court filings that he lives in Florida, ranked at No. 338 on the list, with a net worth of $3.9 billion. Saylor is founder and chairman of Tysons-based tech company MicroStrategy, which is widely reported to be the world’s largest corporate bitcoin holder.

Carlyle Group co-founder and former co-CEO William Conway Jr., who lives in McLean, is the 347th richest American and the sixth richest Virginian, with a net worth of $3.8 billion, according to Forbes. Conway was also a past chief financial officer of MCI Communications, the now-defuct telecom company.

Nationally, Tesla CEO Elon Musk topped the list of the 400 wealthiest Americans for the third straight year, with a net worth of $244 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ranked No. 2, with $197 billion. And after not making the cut in 2023, former President Donald Trump ranked at No. 319 this year, with a net worth of $4.3 billion.

“The Forbes 400 is richer than ever, and it’s harder than ever to be one of the 400 richest people in America,” Chase Peterson-Withorn, senior editor at Forbes, stated in an announcement.