Dona Bertarelli was born in Rome in 1968 and is a Swiss businesswoman of Italian origin. With her brother Ernesto she inherited the biotech company Serono, sold to Merck KGaA in 2007. She studied at Boston University and is active in philanthropy, notably through the Bertarelli Foundation.
A keen sailor, she has raced since 2007 on Lake Geneva with her Spindrift racing team aboard the Décision 35 catamaran Ladycat. She won the Bol d'Or Mirabaud in 2010, the first woman to win the event since its creation in 1939.
In January 2013 she bought the maxi-trimaran formerly Banque populaire V, renamed Spindrift 2. That year she co-led the team to victory in the Rolex Fastnet and broke the America Discovery Route record. She won the Fastnet again in 2015.
In late November 2015 she left Ushant with partner Yann Guichard and the Spindrift 2 crew for a Jules Verne Trophy attempt. The record was not beaten, but she became the fastest woman to sail around the world.
