New Po­dcast Epi­so­de: In­de­pen­dent Bo­ard Mem­bers with Kas­per Meis­ner Ni­el­sen

In a new episode (in Danish) of Rig på Viden, André Thormann is joined by Kasper Meisner Nielsen, Professor at the Center for Corporate Governance at Copenhagen Business School, to explore this striking question.

Using detailed data on director deaths, the research provides a rare opportunity to observe how financial markets reassess firm value when a board member suddenly disappears. Because deaths are unexpected events, they allow researchers to isolate market reactions and compare how investors respond to the loss of different types of directors.

The findings point in a clear direction: financial markets tend to react more negatively when an independent board member passes away than when a dependent director does. Independence, in other words, appears to carry economic value. At the same time, the episode shows that independence is not a fixed characteristic. The longer a director has served on a board, the less independent the market tends to perceive that person to be. Board tenure therefore matters for how independence is interpreted and valued.

The conversation explores what independence really means in practice, why markets respond the way they do, and what these findings imply for board composition and corporate governance more broadly.

Listen to the episode to gain deeper insight how financial markets assess board independence.

Please note that the episode is recorded in Danish.