Sailor, Businessman, Philanthropist

Few have clue one about the background of the current America’s Cup holder (not Alinghi, the boat, but Ernesto Bertarelli, the Swiss billionaire). He’s actually an avid sailor, businessman, philanthropist and family man. He himself served as navigator aboard Alinghi during his first America’s Cup win in 2003, then as afterguard runner and grinder - - GRINDER (!) - - aboard Alinghi in 2007, when they again won the Cup. (Two cents says he steered now and then, but that’s probably just a guess….)

First, despite his name, Mr. Bertarelli actually spent the bulk of his life in Switzerland. He moved there in 1977 from Rome, his birth city, at the age of 12. A graduate of Babson College, just outside of Boston, he went on to earn a coveted Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School.

In 1966, he was named Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chairman of Serono, SA, a global biotechnology firm, which he inherited from his father. From 1996 to 2006, revenue skyrocketed from $809 million to $2.8 billion. Sereno had discovered a natural hormone used in the treatment against female infertility. The big payoff came to Mr. Bertarelli in 2006, when he SOLD the company to Merck KGag of Germany for $13.3 billion, which formed a new company called Merck-Serono.

Second, sailor-yachtman Ernesto won some prestigious international sailing competitions before going after the America’s Cup, including the world-class Sardinia Cup in 1998 and the Bol d’Or FIVE times. He also finished third in the grueling Fastnet Race in 1999.

One of the first Alinghi boats was, in fact, his high-performance CATAMARAN, the 12.5 meter Alinghi IV. In it, he won (as a crewmember) the 12m “Worlds,” the Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand. From here, he finished FIRST in the FARR 40 WORLDS - - as helmsman - - certainly among sailing's MOST COMPETITIVE REGATTAS.

Your Blogster estimates that few other America’s Cup winner/director/sponsors have had such illustrious sailboat-racing careers. It seems he didn’t just BUY the cup after all!

Just last month, his Team Alinghi finished first in the Challenge Julius Baer, the multihulls’ season championship on Lake Geneva. And he keeps on racing here and there on a grand scale.

Third, in 2000, he founded the Team Alinghi syndicate, representing the Swiss Society Nautique de Geneve club. Three years later, he was to win the Louis Vuitton Cup, the the Challenger elimination matches leading up to the America’s Cup, then went on to win the Cup, beating Team Zealand in Auckland, their home turf.

He won it on his first attempt and brought it back to Europe. He beat ‘em again in 2007, but it was darned close - - a one-second victory in the final match-up, winning 5 of the 7 races. (Your Blogster: If he'd stop hiring some of their best guys, maybe they could win it back, but just about all's fair in love, war and the America's Cup races!)

Fourth, his two America’s Cup victories garnered for him the Knight of the National Order of Merit and the Legion d’Honneur by France’s President Jacques Chirac, and the Cavaliere di Gran Croce by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic.

Fifth, in 1999, Ernesto Bertarelli and his family started a foundation for promoting a better understanding of the cause and cure of infertility. The Foundation FABER, in Lausanne, and the Bertarelli Foundation in Trelex, Switzerland, merged in 2006.

They focus on supporting research and development in the field of MALE and FEMALE infertility, assisted reproduction technologies, andrology, genetics and endocrinology. They also support training, education and international/national information exchanges in these areas via grants. They promote education regarding couples’ infertility and the recognition of the condition as a DISEASE.

In addition, he serves as a director of UBS AG, the global banking empire, and a director of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows, having previously served as a member of the PhRMA Board and BIO Board in the United States. He’s also Chairman of Kedge Capital Partners Ltd., an investment management firm specializing in hedge funds and private equity portfolios.

Last but not least, he and his wife have three children, all of whom reside in Switzerland.