Samantha Kappagoda was a panelist at the Private Directors Association New York Metro Chapter in-person event on Digital Transformation and Organizational Resilience: Governing Capital, AI and Trust in the Next Decade on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in New York City.
The session was moderated by Caroline Schoenecker, Managing Director, Deloitte US Center for Board Effectiveness Experience. Samantha’s fellow panelists were Rabih Ramadi, Co-Founder and CEO, Avantos.ai and Ragu Gurumurthy, Chief Technology Officer, Deloitte. The session explored how organizations can navigate digital transformation and build organizational resilience, including the following topics:
- Technology governance as a top strategic priority for boards and C-suites
- AI and data governance priorities for boards and the C-Suite
- Capital investment levers for tech transformation and orchestration
- Harnessing the power of humans and machines
Samantha Kappagoda’s Contribution at the Private Directors Association New York Metro Chapter
Samantha’s contribution to this panel brought an active board director’s perspective to a discussion that for private company directors is both strategic and operational — how to govern technology transformation and AI adoption responsibly while maintaining the capital discipline and trust that underpin long-term organizational resilience. Her perspective drew on her 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, addressing how boards can move from monitoring technology transformation to actively governing it as a source of competitive advantage and long-term value.
Samantha has previously participated in events hosted by the Private Directors Association, including Audit Beyond Financial Risks in October 2024 and AI in the Boardroom: What Independent Directors Should Know in May 2024. She was awarded the Certificate in Private Company Governance by the PDA in 2024.
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 Independent 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, 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. Samantha also serves as an Advisory Council member for the KPMG/INSEAD AI Governance Principles for Boards published in 2026, contributing to a set of global governance principles developed with board members, investors, operators and governance specialists across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Samantha is an active contributor at governance forums in USA, Canada and UK, addressing AI and data governance, cybersecurity, financial markets and global macroeconomic trends, and she has served as faculty on AI governance at NACD Master Class on Technology and Innovation Oversight, NYU Directors’ Academy, 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.
