13 Facts About Ernesto Bertarelli

Ernesto Silvio Maurizio Bertarelli was born on 22 September 1965 and is an Italian-born Swiss billionaire businessman and philanthropist.

Ernesto Bertarelli graduated from Babson College in 1989, and earned an MBA at Harvard Business School in 1993.

Ernesto Bertarelli became CEO in 1996 and, along with his sister Dona, inherited ownership in 1998 on the death of his father.

Ernesto Bertarelli gained fame from its discovery of a natural hormone used in the treatment of female infertility, and its treatments for multiple sclerosis and growth hormone deficiency.

Between 2002 and 2009, Ernesto Bertarelli served as a board director of UBS AG.

In 2000, Ernesto Bertarelli founded the yachting syndicate Team Alinghi, which in 2003, representing the Societe Nautique de Geneve, won the Louis Vuitton Cup before beating Team New Zealand in Auckland to win the America's Cup.

Ernesto Bertarelli was Team Alinghi's only Swiss national serving as navigator in 2003 and subsequently as an afterguard runner and grinder in 2007, when Team Alinghi defended the America's Cup in Valencia.

In recognition of his success, in 2003 Ernesto Bertarelli was named Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur by French President Jacques Chirac, and was given the Cavaliere di Gran Croce by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic.

Ernesto Bertarelli was the primary helmsman of his boat Alinghi 5, which lost both races against the challenger USA 17 by a considerable margin.

Ernesto Bertarelli is a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows.

In 2023, Ernesto Bertarelli pledged $75 million to Harvard Medical School to "advance scientific discovery and a culture of entrepreneurship".

Ernesto Bertarelli was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Marine Sciences from Plymouth University in 2013.

Ernesto Bertarelli met Kirsty Roper, a former 1988 Miss UK and songwriter, while on holiday in Italy in 1997.