Power and beauty 

A selection of Switzerland's finest

Heliane Canepa - renowned entrepreneurial talent Heliane Canepa sailed smoothly onto this list as one of the more powerful medical industry executives in Switzerland. Ms Canepa was born in Austria, but moved to Switzerland in 1972 after she finished her impressive education at a business school in Dornbirn, Austria, West London College and the Sorbonne of Paris. She later studied in the Foreign Executive Development Program at Princeton University in the United States. Canepa served as the CEO of Schneider Worldwide for 20 years, where she quickly developed a now renowned entrepreneurial talent. During her tenure, Canepa shepherded the start-up company through Pfizer's purchase in 1985, straight to its 1998 sale to Boston Scientific for US$ 2.1 billion. While she was working at Schneider Worldwide, Canepa was named "Female Entrepreneur of the Year" in 1995 in Switzerland. She received the same award in 2000 again after she had secured jobs for all employees at the Swiss headquarters of Schneider upon the sale to Boston Scientific. After leaving Schneider Worldwide, Heliane Canepa became President and CEO of Nobel Biocare Group. Her entrepreneurship shone through yet again at Nobel Biocare, and Canepa was ranked No. 6 in the Financial Times' Top 25 European Women in Business in 2005. The next year, she was ranked the top CEO in European Medical Technologies by Institutional Investor magazine and also won the Swiss Awards in Business. In September, Heliane Canepa will - as part of a planned succession that was decided one year ago - hand over the reins of Nobel Biocare after six extremely impressive and successful years. Her tenure saw Nobel Biocare's turnover more than double, as well as the operating margin increase a full 21 points to 34%. In the same period, the company's market capitalization multiplied by six. In 2005, Nobel Biocare was promoted into the Swiss Blue Chip Index SMI. In 2007, Business Week ranked Nobel Biocare as overall No. 4 in its annual ranking of the best performing companies within the Standard&Poors Europe 350. In addition to her many accolades, Canepa's impressive accomplishments have earned her a very good name in the medical technology business. She has served on the board of Sonova Holding AG (previously Phonak Holding AG) since 1999 and was also elected to the Board of Directors for the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce in 2006, which includes just one other woman. Heliane Canepa is married and lives in Rüschlikon, near Zurich.

Gabielle Kaufmann-Kohler - a leading light at the bar The next woman on our list has made notable headway in one of the more famous Swiss industries. Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler was elected to the Union Bank of Switzerland's Board of Directors in April 2006, becoming the first woman to be elected to the board since the 1998 merger that established the bank. But despite the prestigious post, banking itself is not where Mme Kaufmann-Kohler has distinguished herself. She has been a member of the Geneva bar since 1976, and finished her law studies at the University of Basel in 1977. Two years later she received a doctorate and just two years after that, in 1981, she became a member of the New York State bar, of which she continues to be a member. A Swiss citizen, Mme Kaufmann-Kohler was a partner at the law firm of Baker & McKenzie from 1985 to 1995, before returning to Geneva to become a professor at the University of Geneva and a partner with the Schellenberg Wittmer law firm in 1996. She is renowned worldwide as an expert on international arbitration and is currently co-chairing a commission set up by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution to explore different approaches to settlement within the current international arbitration framework. The commission will be working to find ways to more efficiently resolve disputes that arise. With UBS, Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler is on the Corporate Responsibility Committee and a member of the Nominating Committee.

Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele - high-profile success Hob-nobbing with the likes of the Prince of Wales and Elton John is always a sign that you could be fairing worse, but in the case of Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, it's a very positive indicator of a stunning career. Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele is the co-president of Chopard, the Swiss watch and jewellery company, and her design and guidance of the company's Haute Joaillerie jewellery line and its perfume and accessory lines, has met with great success - while substantially increasing the company's profile. Caroline is a fantastic designer in her own right and her designs for watches and jewellery have been very well received. Her extraordinary talent, however, seems to revolve around her ability to draw star power. Under Mme Gruosi-Scheufele's leadership, Chopard has involved itself with a number of charity organizations, offering special watch models and designs, as well as sponsoring events. The symbiotic relationship that results, has brought success to both the causes and the company, with Caroline right at the centre of it all. Gruosi-Scheufele has worked to develop a partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, with whom Chopard has sponsored an annual ball for nine years running and designed a line of watches. Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele has also worked closely with Prince Charles, whose charity foundation also has a line of watches to benefit it. As well, leading opera tenor José Carreras has also worked with Chopard to design a series of watches to benefit his charity for leukaemia research. But it's not all special watch collections for Chopard. The company also sponsors many events because of Gruosi-Scheufele's stewardship. Traces of Chopard are everywhere, adorning nearly every red carpet. The Grammy Awards, the Oscars and countless film festivals have all seen the company's presence. Chopard designed the tiara for Ms Europe in 2006 and the company has been official partners with the Cannes Film Festival for the past 10 years, inspiring the city of Cannes to make Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele an honorary citizen of the French town. All of these success stories for the company certainly spawn from the productive brother-sister partnership that co-manages it (Caroline's brother Karl-Friedrich is co-president), but were it not for the design talent and social savoir-faire of Mme Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, Chopard would very likely not have reached its near-omnipresence in European high-society life.

Alice Huxley - persistence + ingenuity = success Dr Alice Huxley's noteworthy success in the pharmaceutical industry spawns ultimately from her unrelenting persistence and ingenuity, both of which have won her accomplishments, acclaim and compensation. The business sense and research savvy of the biochemist are behind the development of a novel blood-pressure drug, aliskiren, now marketed as Tekturna by Novartis Pharmaceutical, AG. Dr Huxley had worked as a Global Project Manager for Ciba-Geigy in the 1990s and was on the team that had been set up to develop a new kind of hypertension drug - known as a rennin inhibitor - to combat high blood pressure. But as is common in this high-pressure industry, the drug research was abandoned at the time of the Ciba Geigy-Sandoz merger in search of higher profits elsewhere. The project was put on ice, however, and shortly afterwards, Dr Huxley left to establish her own company, negotiating with Novartis to get the development rights to the drug in 1999, on the condition that Novartis could buy back the drug if it chose to. So began Speedel Holding AG, short for Speedy Development, which grew from an attic enterprise to a successful pharmaceutical company almost overnight. Just three years into development, Dr Huxley struck the deal with Novartis to get the rights to aliskiren and Novartis took the decision to buy the rights back. The aliskiren drug became Speedel's first great success and was approved by the US FDA in March this year. Today, the company employs 75 people, including "over 40 experienced pharmaceutical scientists." Dr Huxley was born in former Czechoslovakia but moved to Switzerland in 1982 to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship in biology with Ciba-Geigy and stayed with the company when it merged with Sandoz to become Novartis in 1996. Speedel is headquartered in Basle, with Dr Alice Huxley at the helm as CEO. Were it not for her unflinching persistence to pursue aliskiren, it is doubtful that such great advances would have been made in hypertension medication in the last few years. Just this summer, it was discovered that combinations of aliskiren with other drugs are even more effective at combating high blood pressure, further expanding treatment options and effectiveness for hypertension. It is now clear that Dr Alice Huxley's shrewd business sense will keep projects like aliskiren alive after the bigger pharmaceutical firms have abandoned them, and her brilliant success and growing influence mark her as a fine exemplar in the powerful pharmaceutical industry.

Dona Bertarelli Späth - devoted to caring Last - but by no means least - our cover subject, Dona Bertarelli Späth, was raised and went to school in the cantons of Vaud and Geneva, and later received her BS degree from the College of Communications at Boston University. Within the then family-owned biotechnology company, Serono International SA, Dona Bertarelli Späth served as Executive Director, Public and Professional Affairs. She subsequently established the Serono Foundation, whose main purpose was to award research grants to deserving young scientists. In 1998, Mme Bertarelli Späth took a leave of absence from Serono to become a mother and pursue other business activities. She then set up the Bertarelli Foundation to promote better scientific, social and economic knowledge of the infertility field. The Foundation has now merged its activities with the Fondation F.A.B.E.R. in Lausanne. Following in her family's long-standing tradition of giving a helping hand, Dona Bertarelli Späth has also been active in several charitable foundations that are dedicated to helping children in particular, including Geneva-based Smiling Children. She has also - not unsurprisingly given her brother's renowned yacht racing exploits - recently become more involved in sailing. Her Decision 35 Ladycat (see www.ladycat.ch), a catamaran that competes in the Lake Geneva regatta season with an all-women's team, including the famous French sailor Karine Fauconnier, was launched in April 2007. The boat is painted in bright fuchsia and is easily recognizable among the flotilla of Decision 35s on Lake Léman during races. But this has not detracted her from her charitable activities. Through Ladycat, Bertarelli Späth is supporting the World Heart Federation's international campaign, Go Red for Women, with a three-year sponsorship. The Go Red for Women campaign (see www.world-heart-federation.org/what-we-do/go-red-for-women) promotes awareness of cardiovascular disease in women. Heart disease and stroke kill more women each year than cancer, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. Worldwide, an average of more than 16 women per minute die of cardiovascular disease. Yet there are simple factors that can help improve a woman's heart health, notably eating healthily, doing physical exercise regularly and quitting smoking. Dona Bertarelli Späth will be launching a new line of fashionable sports clothing under Ladycat colours, with a portion of the sales donated to the World Heart Federation's Go Red for Women. She also is involved in the hospitality and sports businesses. Notably, her 5-star hotel in Gstaad, the Grand Hôtel Park, is a favourite spot of the jet set and the glitterati who seek comfort and discretion coupled with breathtaking scenery in the Bernese Alps. The hotel, situated at the centre of a magnificent park, unites tradition with contemporary elegance. Complete with several restaurants and a luxurious spa, it is open during winter and summer. The hotel also caters for small business meetings and conferences. Dona Bertarelli Späth is married and has three children. She spends her time between her home and family in Switzerland and her business activities.