Patricia Spuijbroek

Patricia Spuijbroek is a partner—and the managing director—for the business and advisory company, PAS Beheer BV. To say that she is passionate about the work done by her company is an understatement. In fact, Spuijbroek often says that she hopes to work until she dies, so passionate is she about her career and her industry!

As a professional, her greatest strengths lie in the general management of employees and of her business. She has spent the bulk of her professional life restructuring businesses, setting them up for success and steering them into new directions. Her goal, always, is to help her clients’ businesses to become more successful.

She also has a zeal for training. Much of her work revolves around training business leaders to better facilitate board meetings, to get better work out of their employees, and put companies on the path of continuous improvement. In fact, Patricia Spuijbroek has amassed much experience providing employee training, CEO governance and compliance training, communication training, work flow management training, and beyond.

What Spuijbroek and her team are able to deliver is of an exceptional quality. She herself has pursued ongoing education throughout her professional life—notable at Nijenrode Business University—and she has educated herself on such diverse topics as psychology, corporate governance, and non-executive leadership. Meanwhile, the other partners at Governance Check BV, a company she co-owns, are either legally educated in corporate governance, or seasoned in the field of risk management.

Spuijbroek brings to her work more than just education—she also brings real-world experience, which is what enables her to offer truly comprehensive results for her clients.

Patricia Spuijbroek loves her work; she loves businesses—both hers, and the businesses of others. She has devoted her career to making other companies as fruitful, efficient, and productive as possible, and loves every minute of it.

Currently, Patricia serves also as one of two partners at a business advisory and consultancy service, called PAS Beheer BV. The work that she does is centered on interim management, executive business consultancy and coaching of start-up companies to find better ways to run their meetings, operate their companies, and work with their employees. The offerings of Spuijbroek and her company include training, work flow management, and—in short—anything and everything that would make companies performing best.

Patricia Spuijbroek says that her team at Governance Check focuses on issues of corporate governance. This includes everything that pertains to the governance between boards of directors and company management teams. In Europe, the company works with two-tier boards; in America, primarily with single-tier boards. She is passionate to train executives and non-executives alike on how to work within the governance framework of a business, achieving highly effective communication and alignment with the corporate vision.

Given the many disciplines in which Patricia Spuijbroek exhibits mastery, it should come as no surprise that she boasts an impressive educational background. Some highlights include:

- From 1973 through 1978 she attended Montessori Lyceum, in Rotterdam.
- From then until 1980 she studied French language and literature, first in France and then in the Netherlands.
- From 1981 through 1984 she worked toward—and obtained—her HBO in Labor Law & Personal Management, from Rotterdam.
- Since then, Spuijbroek has received a number of post-graduate training courses and certifications in such topics as Coaching, Leadership, Negotiations, Personal Profile Analysis, Job Evaluations, Time Management, and Recruitment.
- She has also completed numerous master classes at Nijenrode University—including courses in Psychology for Managers, Civil Service Management, Corporate Governance, and she has completed the Supervisory Board cycle at Nijenrode.
- She regularly updates and augments her education with coursework from places like Harvard Business School.

Of course, in addition to her impressive educational background, Patricia Spuijbroek can also boast a wealth of career experience, even before she came to her current position. From 1999 through 2006, she worked as the director of a company in the Netherlands, where she was amongst others responsible for all European HR policies—including employee exchanges, organization, contractual negotiations, and more. As member of the executive boards she was active in various countries throughout Europe.

Before that, she served as the advisor for an employers’ organization in the Netherlands. She led the organization through a merger with a U.S.-based company; she helped with collective labor agreements, organizational set-up, and more.

Her work history extends back further still—but an additional note to make about Patricia Spuijbroek is that she is zealous for philanthropic work. She works with a variety of NGOs in developing countries, helping them to get their business models up and running. She also provides advice and counseling as business coach with New Venture, a support organization for young graduated entrepreneurs. She served many years as chairman of the parent’s counsel of an Amsterdam based high school and was deeply involved in the establishment of the association of parents of highly gifted children.

In terms of her abilities as a coach and business consultant, there are several things that make her distinctive—unique within her field. One thing that sets her apart is the fact that she has accumulated experience in the management of businesses, foundations and associations of all sizes—including Dutch based companies large and small, and spanning many industries.

In addition, she is committed to the very notion of education. She understands the importance of training and education within the workplace, but she also exemplifies this in her own life. Spuijbroek constantly seeks out new ways to better herself and to expand her mastery over such subjects as psychology and corporate governance.

Finally, she is someone who prizes real-world experience. Rather than rely on her theoretical knowledge, she is someone who actively courts new experiences, and relies on them to inform her work as a business consultant. This is what enables Patricia Spuijbroek to provide such superior advisory services on behalf of her clients.

What does the future hold in store for Patricia? This is never a question that is easy to answer, as even the most forward-thinking among us are unable to say with certainty what tomorrow will bring. Naturally, though, Patricia is a goal-oriented person, and there are several things she hopes to see happen in her future.

When asked what her main personal goal is, Patricia Spuijbroek's answer is simple: To work until I die, she says. This answer is offered with a smile, but she is quite serious about it. Her work is her life, her truest passion—and she wants nothing more than to be able to keep doing it for as long as is humanly possible.

She has some other goals, as well. She is highly interested in the education side of her business, and wishes to continue furthering her own understanding of how training affects a business—and how a business can most effectively implement training processes. It is the sincere belief of Spuijbroek that there are still untapped benefits that businesses can gain from training, and she hopes to help discover and illuminate them. Specifically the cross-road between business and education has her special interest, as she believes that both can benefit form each other.

Additionally, she wishes to further expand into the NGO side of her business. She has worked with non-profits in the past, and would love to do more of it, as she believes this is an excellent way to generate social good in the world. Patricia Spuijbroek was involved with work in Rwanda, and wants to push further and deeper into this important labor.