Samantha Kappagoda served as faculty on the panel Focus on the Nominating and Governance Committee – Emerging Technologies and Evolving Regulatory Landscapes at the Practicing Law Institute PLI Master Class on Corporate Governance on February 23, 2026.
The session was moderated by Ade Heyliger, Partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Samantha’s fellow panelists were the following: Carla Tully, board director Emera, Inc. (NYSE/TSX: EMA), Pattern Energy, and the Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Forum, and Senior Advisor for the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), and Douglas K. Chia, President of Soundboard Governance LLC and Senior Fellow at the Rutgers Center for Corporate Law and Governance.
The panel discussion topics included the following:
- Navigating an increasingly complex and dynamic corporate governance landscape
- Effective governance for supporting performance and driving improvement
- Board composition, refreshment/ tenure, and succession planning
- CEO succession considerations
Samantha Kappagoda’s Contributions at the PLI Master Class
Samantha’s contribution to this panel was grounded in the convergence of her three roles: sitting Nominating Committee Chair, Chief Data Scientist, and active contributor in governance forums. Her perspective addressed how Nominating and Governance Committees must evolve to meet the demands of a technology-driven, regulatory-intensive environment, drawing on direct experience as Nominating Committee Chair at Credit Suisse Funds, published thought leadership on AI governance in Directors & Boards and for the National Association of Corporate Directors, and operating expertise in data and technology strategy at Numerati® Partners.
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/Academic at Courant Institute School of Mathematics, Computing and Data Science at New York University.
Recognized by the Financial Times as a Future 50 Director, and a Director to Watch by Directors & Boards magazine, Samantha is the author of Board Governance of AI & Emerging Technologies, and Do Boards Need “AI Expert” Directors? both in Directors & Boards, 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, WCD Global Institute, 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, recent news and conferences.
