Dona Bertarelli – Billionaire

Dona Bertarelli (born 1968) is a Swiss businesswoman of Italian origin. She is co-president of the Bertarelli Foundation. She is also a sailor, having won the 2010 Bol d’Or Mirabaud and, with her team Spindrift Racing, the Rolex Fastnet in 2013. In the same year, she and her team also broke the record for the America Discovery Route.

Childhood and education

Bertarelli was born in Rome in 1968. She is the daughter of Fabio Bertarelli. She and her brother Ernesto inherited Serono, a biotechnology company. Serono was founded in 1906 in Rome and was the building block of the family’s wealth. The family now has a number of activities and investments, with interests in areas such as finance, real estate, health, sports, hospitality or agriculture. According to the magazine Forbes, in 2011 the family ranked as the 81st worldwide in terms of wealth.

Bertarelli has a BSc from Boston University’s College of Communications.

Business

Bertarelli was active in Serono, the family business, and from 1992 to 1997 was Executive Director, Public and Professional Affairs, where she established Serono Symposiaand the Serono Foundation. The company was sold to Merck KGaA at the beginning of 2007.

The five star Grand Hôtel Park in Gstaad was taken over by Bertarelli in 2003.

Philanthropy

After her father died, Bertarelli and her brother, founded in 1999 the Bertarelli Foundation to promote the sharing and development of scientific, social and economic knowledge in the field of infertility. For ten years, Bertarelli was Chairman of the Foundation.

Bertarelli is an ambassador for the Swiss transfusion charity Ma Vie Ton Sang and is a supporter of the World Health Organization’s ‘Go Red for Women’ campaign. She is also a godmother to the Womanity charity (formerly Smiling Children).

Source:wikipedia