Famous Swiss Business People

Gianni Infantino is a Swiss-Italian football administrator, currently serving as the president of FIFA. He studied law at the University of Fribourg and worked as the secretary-general of the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES). He later began working with the UEFA and FIFA. He was implicated in a FIFA corruption scandal in 2016. 

Swiss sports administrator Sepp Blatter has been a well-known face in football. Once the FIFA president, he was often plagued by criticism for his controversial statements and was also publicly heckled multiple times. He has also headed the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation and has organized the Olympics, too.

Henry Dunant was a Swiss businessman, social activist, and humanitarian. He is credited with co-founding and promoting the Red Cross. In 1901, he became the first Swiss Nobel laureate when he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Dunant is also credited with founding the Swiss branch of YMCA. His life inspired the 1948 historical drama film, Man to Men.

Born in Russia, Swiss billionaire Margarita Louis-Dreyfus initially studied law and economics. She became an heir to the agricultural and food-processing commodities giant Louis-Dreyfus group after her husband Robert Louis-Dreyfus’s death. At 53, she became a mother of twins, with her partner Philipp Hildebrand. She was featured on Forbes Billionaires 2021.

Jorge Paulo Lemann is a Brazilian billionaire businessman and investment banker. Lemann is credited with co-founding 3G Capital, a Brazilian investment firm, which owns brands like Anheuser-Busch, Burger King, and Heinz. In 2019, Jorge Paulo Lemann was named the world's 37th richest person by Forbes magazine, thanks to his net worth of 24.6 billion US dollars.

Ernesto Bertarelli is an Italian born-Swiss businessman who is counted amongst the richest men in the world.  A well-known philanthropist, Bertarelli is credited with establishing a foundation to promote research and development concerning female and male infertility. In 2013, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Plymouth University.

Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont is the only male descendant of the former Italian king Umberto II. Since Italy banished the House of Savoy, he has lived in exile for 3 decades and is now a successful restaurateur in LA. He also often appears on Italian TV shows.

While Ivan Glasenberg initially excelled in sports and even went on to become a national race-walking champion for South Africa and Israel, he later earned a business degree and began trading coal in Australia, becoming Australia’s fifth-richest man in 2015. He then took over as the CEO of Glencore and moved to Switzerland.

Barbara Berlusconi is the daughter of popular Italian politician and media tycoon, Silvio Berlusconi. A business executive, Barbara Berlusconi serves as an important member of the advisory board of Fininvest SpA. She also played an important managerial role at A.C. Milan in 2011.

Swiss-born sports executive Joan Gamper is best remembered as the founder of the legendary football club FC Barcelona. A sports enthusiast since his childhood, he excelled in many sports, such as football, golf, and tennis. He died of suicide at age 52, apparently driven by depression related to financial issues.

Swiss chef and restaurateur Daniel Humm, who owns multiple restaurants, including the popular Eleven Madison Park in New York, began working as a culinary apprentice at age 14 and earned his first Michelin star at age 24. He has penned several cookbooks and also owns a food-based non-profit, Rethink Food.

Known for his deep voice and his signature moustache, Swiss musician and conceptual artist Dieter Meier co-founded the electronic music band Yello. The son of an affluent banker, he dropped out of a law course and pursued music and art. He is also on the board of a music technology business.

The only son of former secretary-general of the UN, Kofi Annan, Kojo Annan is a serial entrepreneur who has been associated with various companies, such as Vector Global and Made in Africa. The Swiss-born Ghanaian-Nigerian was a talented college rugby player and works to provide sports scholarships to African students.

Swiss-born Simone Tata met her husband, Naval H. Tata., the adopted son of Sir Ratanji Tata and part of the Tata Group, on a trip to India. She later joined the board of Lakmé and transformed the Indian make-up industry, which, till then, relied on nothing more than cream and talcum powder.

While he once headed the Swiss National Bank, Swiss banker Philipp Hildebrand had to resign later due to the controversy surrounding the currency trading practices of his former wife. He is now dating Russian-Swiss billionaire Margarita Louis-Dreyfus and heads BlackRock as its vice chairman. He is also part of G30.

Though born in India, Monisha Kaltenborn moved to Austria as a child. After attaining a master’s degree in law, she worked for the UN and various legal firms. She also headed Sauber Motorsport as its CEO and later formed KDC Racing. The mother of two now lives with her family in Switzerland.

Dutch-born Swiss billionaire Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza was born into a reputed steel business family. He created one of the greatest art collections by a private collector, adding to the collection he had inherited from his father. One of his 5 marriages was to Miss Spain Carmen "Tita" Cervera.

While his marriage to Maja Stehlin, the widow of the sole heir of the pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche, made him the world’s third-richest man, Paul Sacher was a talented composer in his own right. Apart from a chamber orchestra and a choir, he also founded a music academy.