Samantha Kappagoda was invited to speak at the Private Directors Association (PDA) Audit Beyond Financial Risks panel hosted by Grant Thornton in New York City on October 17, 2024. The panel discussed how boards can prepare to address a range of risks including geopolitical risk, regulatory changes, cybersecurity, AI and emerging technology. The moderator was Gene Quinn, Advisor, Board Director and Private Investor at Confluence Partners, and Samantha’s fellow panelists were:
- Markus Veith, Partner at Grant Thornton
- Shiva Rajgopal, Kester and Byrnes Professor at Columbia Business School
Samantha’s Contribution to the Panel
Samantha Kappagoda’s participation in the Audit Beyond Financial Risks panel at the Private Directors Association illustrates the evolving nature of audit committees. Her perspective integrates direct board experience as an active audit committee member, quantitative risk fluency and understanding of geopolitical risk developed at a global macro hedge fund, and operational knowledge of how AI and data risks manifest in enterprise environments. For private company directors seeking to strengthen non-financial risk oversight, her contribution to this discussion reflects the kind of integrated, practitioner-grounded perspective increasingly needed in audit committees.
The mission of the Private Directors Association is to enable and enhance the value, growth, and resilience of privately held companies through effective governance throughout the business lifecycle. Samantha was previously a speaker for PDA at the panel AI in the Boardroom.
About Samantha Kappagoda
Samantha Kappagoda is a board director and technology strategist who brings a distinctive blend of capital markets judgment, AI governance and data strategy expertise to complex, regulated environments. Her boardroom perspective leverages her operating experience — in data, analytics and technology — to navigate emerging opportunities, drive value and mitigate risk.
Samantha currently serves as Board Director, Nominating & Governance Committee Chair and Audit Committee Member at the Credit Suisse Funds, now under UBS (NYSE: UBS), and a Member of the Governing Council Business Board at the University of Toronto. She also serves as Chief Data Scientist and Co-Founder of Numerati® Partners LLC, a RiskTech firm, and Visiting Scholar at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.
Recognized as a Director to Watch by Directors & Boards magazine, Samantha is an active contributor at governance forums in USA and Canada, addressing AI and data governance, cybersecurity, financial markets and global macroeconomic trends at Independent Directors Council, NACD Summit, NYU Directors’ Academy, Private Directors Association and WGOB Canada. Samantha has been awarded the Certificate in Private Company Governance from the Private Directors Association, and has also completed the Harvard Business School Program Making Corporate Boards More Effective. For additional information, please see Samantha’s biography, recent news and conferences & events.
