- Source: Vreni Spoerry
Verena "Vreni" Spoerry (née Toneatti; born 8 March 1938) is a Swiss attorney, business executive and former politician who served on the Council of States (Switzerland) for the Free Democratic Party from 1996 to 2003. She previously served on the National Council of Switzerland from 1983 to 1996.
Spoerry has been described as "Switzerland's most active professional board member" and held a variety of prestigious board memberships such as SKA (presently Credit Suisse), Nestlé and Swissair. She was accused in the Swissair bankruptcy trial however was acquitted on all accounts.
Early life and education
Spoerry was born Verena Toneatti on 8 March 1938 in Zürich, Switzerland, the youngest of three children, to Peter Toneatti (1899–1991) and Martha Toneatti (née Schmidhauser). Her father, a PhD graduate from ETH Zurich, founded a subsidiary of the construction company Toneatti Ltd., which was founded in 1889 by her paternal grandfather, Italian-born Giovanni Toneatti (1854–1929), who originally hailed from Udine. Her siblings include Martha Wettler (née Toneatti; born 1927) and Peter Toneatti Jr. (born 1929).
Spoerry was raised in Rapperswil-Jona on Lake Zurich, where she attended local schools. Upon completition of her commercial maturity, she studied law and completed a licentiate degree at University of Zurich.
Political career
Spoerry started her political career as municipal councilor (1978–1986) in Horgen, where she resides. She then served on the Cantonal Council of Zürich from 1979 to 1983 and ultimately on the National Council (Switzerland) from 1983 to 1996 and Council of States (Switzerland) from 1996 to 2003. She was a member of the Free Democratic Party (presently The Liberals).
Personal life
She married Christoph Spoerry, a textile heir originally from Flums, with whom she had three children. Her son, Kaspar Spoerry (1968–1989), died aged only 21 in a bicycle accident. In his name she and her husband formed the Kaspar-Spoerry-Foundation, a non-profit which supports athletics for people with special needs. She has two daughters and resides in Horgen, Switzerland.