Samantha Kappagoda was invited to serve as faculty at the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Master Class on Technology and Innovation Oversight, on April 2-3, 2025 at the NACD headquarters in Arlington, VA. This two-day event sought to provide directors with insights on responsibilities and challenges faced by boards in oversight of technology related strategies.
Samantha participated in a panel titled Challenges and Opportunities in AI Adoption, which was moderated by Friso Van der Ord, NACD SVP of Content, with additional panelist Miriam Vogel, President and CEO of Equal AI.
Samantha’s Contribution to the Panel
Samantha Kappagoda’s role as faculty at the NACD Master Class on Technology and Innovation Oversight exemplifies the intersection of her three core credentials in AI governance: active board experience as an independent director, audit committee member and nominating committee chair; operating expertise as a data scientist in enterprise environments; and a recognized governance contributor whose faculty roles, publications, and panel contributions span the leading platforms through which corporate directors develop AI oversight capability. For boards seeking directors who bring not only AI knowledge but demonstrated capacity to translate that knowledge into governance practice, her faculty role at NACD is a direct expression of that capacity.
Samantha previously served as a panelist for the Top-10 ranked Blind Spots in the Boardroom at NACD Summit 2024. NACD has been the premier association for board directors for over 45 years, with approximately 24,000 members serving over 1,750 boards, with over 20 chapters across 35 locations. The NACD Summit is an annual event that convenes approximately 1,500 corporate directors and other governance professionals.
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.
Samantha currently serves as a Board Director, Nominating 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-Managing Member of Numerati® Partners LLC, and Visiting Scholar at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.
Recognized as a Director to Watch, Samantha is the author of Board Governance of AI & Emerging Technologies, in Directors & Boards magazine. She is an active contributor at governance forums in USA and Canada, addressing AI and data governance, cybersecurity, financial markets and global macroeconomic trends at conference and events including Character of the Corporation, Corporate Board Member, 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.
