Beth Cross Net Worth 2026: Ariat International Co-Founder

No reputable outlet has published a net worth estimate for Beth Cross. The $65 million figure that circulated on this page earlier had no source, so we have withdrawn it. What is on the record is the business behind her wealth: Cross co-founded Ariat International in the early 1990s, led it as CEO for more than 30 years, and in April 2026 moved to executive chair of its board, SGB Media reported.

What is Beth Cross's net worth?

There is no reliable published figure. Ariat is privately held, it does not report revenue or profits, and the size of Cross's personal stake has never been disclosed. Any single dollar number for her fortune would be a guess, so we do not give one.

The closest public data point on the company's value is more than a decade old. In June 2012, Reuters reported that Ariat was being sold to its management team and the Fisher family, the founders of Gap Inc. A source quoted by Reuters put annual revenue at roughly $300 million and the likely valuation at $350 million to $400 million. The price was not disclosed. Earlier, in 2006, private equity firm LNK Partners said it had put $61 million into a significant minority stake, alongside Brentwood Associates.

Those numbers describe the company, not Cross. Management was part of the 2012 buyer group, but her share was never reported, and Ariat has grown since then.

Beth Cross's yearly earnings, monthly income and salary

Her salary and bonus are not public. Because Ariat does not trade on a stock exchange, it files no proxy statements, which is where executive pay would normally appear. The yearly, monthly and daily income figures shown on this page before were not drawn from any filing or report and have been removed.

Her income comes from her role at Ariat (CEO until April 2026, executive chair since) and from whatever ownership she retains in the company. She also sits on several boards, listed below; board fees for those organizations are not published.

Related: Ben Rubenstein Net Worth

Early life and family

Cross grew up on a working thoroughbred farm near Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, according to her biography at the Two Ten Footwear Foundation. In a 2023 interview published by Ariat, she said she was one of eight children and that her mother ran the family farm, keeping horses, sheep, pigs and chickens while also helping with her father's business. Earlier versions of this page claimed her father ran a shoe business; we found no source for that and removed it.

Beth Cross husband and children

The Two Ten biography says Cross lives in San Mateo, California, with her husband and that they have three grown children. Her husband's name and profession have not been published by a reputable outlet, so we do not name him.

Education

Cross earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado in 1986 and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1988, per Two Ten. The claim on this page that she holds a BBA from Stanford was wrong. She has served on the Stanford GSB Advisory Council and is a former member of the school's Management Board.

Professional life: how Ariat was built

After Stanford, Cross joined the consulting firm Bain & Company in San Francisco, where she met fellow Stanford MBA Pam Parker. Working on product and marketing strategy for Reebok, the two saw that riding boots had missed the performance technology used in athletic shoes, according to Two Ten and Wikipedia. The newsletter Chestnut Mare adds that Reebok turned down their proposal for a riding boot line, after which the pair went part-time at Bain to write their own business plan.

• 1988: Stanford MBA; joins Bain & Company.
• 1992: Ariat International is founded.
• 1993: the first two boot styles ship, a Western boot and an English paddock boot.
• 2006: LNK Partners and Brentwood Associates invest; Ariat moves into Western apparel.
• 2009: becomes official boot sponsor of the Professional Bull Riders.
• 2012: sold to management and the Fisher family (Reuters).
• 2015: sponsorship deal with the FEI, the international equestrian federation.
• 2018: Cross is named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the Consumer Driven category.
• 2025: honored among Footwear News "Women Who Rock"; Texas expansion announced.
• April 2026: steps up to executive chair; Liz O'Neill becomes CEO.

The name Ariat comes from Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner. The company's pitch was to hide athletic cushioning and stability inside a boot that still looked traditional. Two Ten describes Ariat as the largest equestrian footwear and apparel brand in the world, sold through more than 6,500 retail locations, with offices in Northern California, the UK, China, Mexico and Japan. According to WWD, its products are carried by Boot Barn, Nordstrom, Tractor Supply, Dick's Sporting Goods and Academy Sports + Outdoors, among others.

Cross has spoken about company culture. In a 2025 Footwear News interview, she said women make up half of Ariat's senior leadership and half of its sales team, and described paid parental leave for both mothers and fathers.

Recent changes (2025-2026)

In December 2025, Ariat said it would invest $72.6 million and add 250 jobs in Fort Worth, Texas, in two phases: an $8.9 million expansion of its regional headquarters and a $63.7 million distribution center, the Fort Worth Report wrote. Texas awarded a $1.5 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant. Cross, quoted as co-founder and CEO, credited Fort Worth and Texas as partners in the company's growth.

In January 2026, Ariat announced that Liz O'Neill, the former chief operating officer of Levi Strauss & Co., would take over as CEO on April 2, 2026, with Cross becoming executive chair (SGB Media, WWD). Cross said she would focus on strategy, culture and supporting the new leadership team.

Board roles and public service

• Board member and treasurer of the Two Ten Footwear Foundation, the industry charity, which she joined in 2014.
• Board member of the Compassion Institute and of Neural Propulsion Systems.
• Member of the Young Presidents' Organization.

The claims on this page that she set up her own foundation and gave away "millions" had no source and were removed.

Age, height and weight

Cross's date of birth, height and weight are not publicly documented. The previous version of this page gave her age as 67 and her height as 5 feet with no source; those figures were removed. Her 1986 college graduation suggests she was born in the early-to-mid 1960s, but that is an inference, not a published fact.

See also: Bettina Looney Net Worth and Adeel Shams Net Worth, another footwear founder.

Contact details

We do not publish personal phone numbers or addresses. Business inquiries go through Ariat International's official channels at ariat.com.

Why there is no net worth figure

Founders of large private companies are hard to value from outside. Revenue, profit and ownership splits are all confidential at Ariat, and the only published valuation dates from 2012. Until a reputable outlet such as Forbes or Bloomberg publishes an estimate, the honest answer is that her net worth is unknown. What can be said is that she co-founded and ran for three decades a company that was already valued at several hundred million dollars in 2012 and has since expanded across the U.S. and abroad.