Agota Szabo

Dr. Agota Szabo is a senior academic, researcher, and board advisor specializing in organisational and board governance, with a particular focus on board effectiveness and boardroom dynamics. Her work centres on how boards and leadership teams structure governance in practice and how they make decisions in complex environments. As a board advisor, Agota supports organisations in reviewing and strengthening their internal governance processes. She works with boards to implement governance best practices, evaluate director performance, and design onboarding programmes for new board members. She has worked with large foundations, European trade associations, and not-for-profit organisations, and serves as Chair of a Community of Practice for not-for-profit executives in the Netherlands. She was also the academic lead of the “Supervisory Boards 2.0” project, which focused on improving the effectiveness of supervisory boards in the Dutch charity sector.   Agota holds a PhD in board governance, focusing on how boards develop a shared understanding of governance and how best practices are implemented in real organisational contexts. Over the past 12+ years, she has taught undergraduate, graduate, and executive (MBA-level) programmes in corporate governance, leadership, and board governance. In her work with boards and executive teams, Agota combines academic insight with practical facilitation. She creates a setting in which leaders feel comfortable addressing difficult and often unspoken issues, while maintaining structure and focus. Her approach is grounded in trust, enabling meaningful dialogue and ensuring that critical questions are raised at the right moment. Her aim is to strengthen board effectiveness by improving alignment, decision-making, and collaboration at the top of organisations, and to support the development of leadership teams that are both cohesive and capable of navigating complex strategic challenges.