Samantha Kappagoda participated in the Deloitte Podium Club | Learning Centre Directors’ Series webinar screening and roundtable discussion Meeting this Moment in Governance: AI and the Future-Ready Board on May 6, 2026. The Deloitte Podium Club is an invitation-only learning centre for Canadian board directors, located in Toronto’s Financial District, designed to foster peer dialogue and professional development on governance topics most relevant to boards.
The event brought together a select group of board directors for a webinar screening followed by a facilitated roundtable discussion hosted by local Deloitte Partners. The webinar was moderated by Jonathan Goodman, Executive Chair of Deloitte’s Boardroom Program, with fellow panelist Joseph Fuller, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School and Founder and Co-Lead of the HBS Managing the Future of Work Project.
The discussion addressed how directors can navigate the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence to ensure their organizations are future-ready, including the following topics:
- The impact of AI on the future of work and competitive advantage
- Balancing innovation with risk in AI strategy
- How boards can provide effective oversight and guidance in an AI-driven environment
- Ensuring AI strategy reflects the organization’s unique priorities and values
- What it takes for boards to provide effective governance and leadership as AI reshapes the business landscape
Samantha Kappagoda’s Contribution at the Deloitte Podium Club
Samantha’s participation in this Deloitte Directors’ Series event, in conversation with a Harvard Business School professor specializing in the future of work and the Executive Chair of Deloitte’s Boardroom Program, placed her AI governance perspective within a discussion that connected board oversight to the strategic and workforce dimensions of AI adoption. Her contribution drew on her active board service as Independent Director, Nominating Committee Chair, and Audit Committee Member at Credit Suisse Funds under UBS, her operating depth as Chief Data Scientist at Numerati® Partners across Fortune 500 and middle-market environments, and her published thought leadership in Directors & Boards and the NACD Director Essentials series, to address what it means for a board to be genuinely future-ready on AI, not simply aware of its implications, but equipped to govern its deployment with the strategic and oversight depth that the moment requires.
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.
