Samantha Kappagoda was invited to speak on AI and Cyber at Torys Canada on September 25, 2025. She participated in the panel Lessons from the Last Big Thing: How Cyber Lessons Inform AI Oversight, along with Molly Reynolds, partner at Torys and Jodi Butts, from Watson Board Advisors, as part of the Torys series AI for Business Leaders. As board priorities expand with technological, social, and political developments, there is a risk that directors approach each new challenge as unprecedented — missing the governance lessons that prior technology cycles offer. This panel sought to draw parallels between AI governance and oversight of cybersecurity, particularly with regards to opportunities and risks.
Samantha Kappagoda’s Contribution at Torys Canada
Samantha’s participation in the Torys AI for Business Leaders series brought a board director’s perspective to the question of what cybersecurity governance experience can teach boards about governing AI, drawing on her active oversight responsibilities at Credit Suisse Funds, her published work in Directors & Boards, and her operating depth as Chief Data Scientist at Numerati® Partners. Her contribution addressed how the governance disciplines that boards developed for cybersecurity — escalation protocols, incident response planning, board-level literacy requirements, and the distinction between technical management and board oversight — can inform a more mature approach to AI governance, rather than treating AI as entirely unprecedented territory requiring boards to start from scratch.
Torys LLP is a Canadian international corporate law firm, founded in 1941, with offices in Toronto, Calgary, New York, Montreal and Halifax. The firm acts for a wide range of commercial clients and financial institutions in Canada, the United States, and globally.
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, Samantha is the author of Board Governance of AI & Emerging Technologies, in Directors & Boards magazine, and a contributor to NACD Director Essentials: Implementing AI Governance. She is an active contributor at governance forums in USA, Canada and UK, addressing AI and data governance, cybersecurity, financial markets and global macroeconomic trends. She has served as faculty at NYU Directors’ Academy, NACD Master Class on Technology and Innovation Oversight and Diligent Institute, and been an invited panelist at conferences including Character of the Corporation, Corporate Board Member, Independent Directors Council, Institute of Directors UK, NACD Summit, Private Directors Association, Society for Corporate Governance and WGOB Canada. Samantha has been awarded the DCRO Institute Certificate in Risk Governance®, 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 and recent news.
