Samantha Kappagoda was invited to participate as a panelist at the Corporate Board Member AI Leadership Forum | East on July 28, 2026, in New York City. The forum convened public company board directors and CEOs for a full-day program of panels, simulations and workshops on AI governance, strategy and enterprise readiness.
Samantha participated in the session Where Value Will Be Created (or Lost) Faster Than Boards Expect. Samantha’s fellow panelist was Phoebe Yang, Board Member of GE HealthCare Technologies, and the discussion was moderated by Dan Bigman, Editor and Chief Content Officer of Chief Executive Group. The session explored how boards and CEOs can identify where AI is creating or quietly eroding value, and what this means for board-level oversight and strategic decision-making, addressing the following topics:
- How some organizations create AI-led value
- How some organizations escape pilot purgatory and scale technology, while others stall
- How business models are already changing in the current environment
Samantha Kappagoda’s Contribution at the Corporate Board Member AI Leadership Forum
Samantha’s contribution to this session addressed a question boards are increasingly confronting: not whether AI will create or destroy value, but whether directors have the analytical grounding to identify where that is already happening and at what pace. Her perspective drew on her operating depth as Chief Data Scientist at Numerati® Partners, where she has led and advised data and technology-intensive pivots across middle-market and Fortune 500 environments, and her active board service as Independent Director, Nominating & Governance Committee Chair and Audit Committee Member at Credit Suisse Funds, now under UBS (NYSE: UBS), combining an operator’s view of where AI initiatives succeed or stall with a board director’s understanding of what meaningful oversight of those decisions requires.
Samantha has previously participated as a panelist at Corporate Board Member events, including the panel AI in the Boardroom: Oversight, Accountability and Strategic Value at the Corporate Board Member Boardroom Summit in September 2025 and Offense Versus Defense: What Is or Should Be Your AI Strategy? at the Corporate Board Member Directors Forum in March 2025.
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 Board 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 and 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 global principles-based approach 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. She has served as faculty at NYU Directors’ Academy, NACD Master Class on Technology and Innovation Oversight and Diligent Institute. Samantha has been an invited panelist at conferences including Character of the Corporation, Corporate Board Member, Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, Independent Directors Council, Institute of Directors UK, KPMG Board Leadership Conference and NACD Summit. She has earned 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.
