Samantha Kappagoda is quoted in Should Your Board Appoint a Bot?, published online in the Financial Times on April 26, 2026, in print on April 27, 2026. The article, written by Andrew Hill and Ashley Armstrong, examines whether generative AI tools, including AI board advisors and autonomous agents, should be granted a formal role in corporate boardrooms, and what that would mean for director accountability and fiduciary duty. The article identifies Samantha as a board director of UBS’s US-listed Credit Suisse Funds and as a contributor to the recent KPMG/INSEAD AI Governance Principles for Boards. On the question of whether AI can serve a governance role, Samantha is quoted directly:
“There are certainly some directors that are enthusiastic about having an AI director but my question is: can the duty of loyalty and care really be delegated?”
Samantha Kappagoda’s Contribution to the Financial Times Discussion on AI and Board Governance
Samantha’s perspective in this article reflects a position she has developed through direct board oversight experience and published governance research: that AI can be a powerful tool for directors, helping boards ask better questions, process larger volumes of information and stress-test management assumptions, but that fiduciary accountability cannot be delegated to a machine. Her contribution to the KPMG/INSEAD AI Governance Principles for Boards, and her published work in Board Governance of AI and Emerging Technologies and Do Boards Need “AI Expert” Directors? in Directors & Boards, ground her quoted view in a consistent and substantive body of governance thinking.
Samantha was recognized by the Financial Times as a Future 50 Director in October 2025, when FT Agenda and Equilar identified fifty board-ready candidates with transformative skills and vision for today’s complex governance environment.
About Samantha Kappagoda
Samantha Kappagoda is a board director and technology strategist who brings 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, incorporating a distinctive blend of technology expertise, capital markets fluency and risk governance.
Samantha currently serves as 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 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, as well as a contributor and Advisory Council member for KPMG/INSEAD AI Governance Principles for Boards.
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 on AI Governance for NYU Directors’ Academy, NACD Master Class on Technology and Innovation Oversight and Diligent Institute. Samantha has been awarded the DCRO Institute Certificate in Risk Governance®, the Private Directors Association Certificate in Private Company Governance, and she 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.
