Sandra Gobert, Executive Director of GUBERNA, joins the Boardroom Governance Podcast to discuss European corporate governance, board education, family firms, control structures, relationship agreements, state ownership, stakeholder governance, board reviews, founder control, Europe’s competitiveness, and why board dynamics matter.
(0:00) About the Boardroom Governance Summit (Aug 26-27, 2026)
(1:20) Intro
(2:45) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(3:31) Start of interview.
(4:55) Origin Story of Sandra Gobert
(6:04) Sandra’s Career Path
(8:56) Guberna and Board Education. Member of EcoDa.
(12:00) Family Firms and Control in EU
(13:53) Relationship Agreements Explained (examples, Bpost and Proximus)
(19:05) State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), and Government involvement on Boards
(19:58) The Board’s Emerging Fourth Role: advocacy and policymaking, alongside its traditional strategic, leadership, and oversight responsibilities.
(22:52) AI and Alternative Structures. PBCs, Foundations, and other European multi-stakeholder models.
(29:25) Employees on the Board ("unacceptable in Belgium").
(31:01) Toward European Harmonization ("We need more Europe, not less Europe")
(31:50) The EU Inc. Idea
(33:57) Principle-Based Governance ("Comply or Explain" framework)
(36:19) The Value of Board Evaluations
(41:05) Founder Control in Tech (dual class share structures)
(44:05) Europe’s Power Shift
(46:34) China and Global Competition
(49:42) Europe’s Economic Pressures (reference to The Economist's interview with Elon Musk)
(52:23) Board Dynamics Matter
(53:19) Books that have greatly influenced her life:
(54:59) Her mentors.
(55:52) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by.
(57:09) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves.
(58:05) The living person she most admires in governance: Christine Lagarde.
Sandra Gobert is the Executive Director of GUBERNA. Sandra also serves as an independent director of Fluxys Belgium, sits on the board of ecoDa, the European Confederation of Directors Associations, and is a member of the board of Belgium’s Corporate Governance Committee.