Samantha Kappagoda was invited for a second time to speak at the NYU Directors Academy at the NYU School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement held from October 31 – November 1, 2024, at New York University. Samantha participated in the plenary panel Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Risks, moderated by Avi Gesser, Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton. Her fellow panelists were:
- Cheemin Bo-Linn, Director at Blackline Safety, Data I/O, Flux Power and KORE Wireless
- Christina Montgomery, Chief Privacy and Trust Officer at IBM
- Sabastian Niles, President and Chief Legal Officer at Salesforce
Samantha’s Contribution to the Panel
Samantha’s participation in the Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Risks plenary panel at the 2024 NYU Directors’ Academy illustrates the intersection of her three core domains: board-level governance practice, quantitative risk expertise, and AI and data strategy. Her perspective at this forum was not that of an observer analyzing AI from the outside, but of a practitioner who oversees AI-related risk as a director, develops data-intensive risk approaches as a data scientist, and studies governance methodology as a scholar. That combination — of fiduciary, operational, and analytical experience — is the lens through which she engages with AI governance questions in board and executive forums.
The 2024 Directors’ Academy provided an opportunity for directors and C-suite executives of public and private companies to engage with CEOs, government officials, scholars and other directors for off-the-record conversations about new issues and evolving views relating to: legal and business risks, AI, cybersecurity, DEI, climate change, new directions in government enforcement and governance issues, including CEO succession planning, effective board meetings, and shareholder activism. Samantha previously spoke on a plenary panel at the 2023 Directors Academy.
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.
