Samantha Kappagoda was invited to participate at Maximizing Impact: Career Growth Through Board Service, a panel hosted by Citibank and The Serica Initiative at Citibank’s New York offices on July 16, 2026. The panel addressed how board service can serve as a career accelerator, and how to navigate the practical considerations of positioning for a board seat. The session was moderated by Lisa Lim, Retired EY Senior Global Tax Partner and Serica Board Member. Samantha’s fellow panelists were:
- Marissa Andrada, Board Director, Enterprise Transformation Advisor, Former Fortune 500 Chief People Officer
- Shyam Gidumal, Board Director at RenRe (NYSE:RNR) and FTAI Aviation (Nasdaq:FTAI), Audit Committee Chair at National MS Society, Former COO and President at WeWork
Samantha Kappagoda’s Contribution at the Citibank Panel
Samantha’s contribution addressed the path to board service from an operating and technical background. Drawing on her own path from senior economist at a global macro hedge fund and Chief Data Scientist and Co-Founder at Numerati® Partners to Independent Director, Nominating & Governance Committee Chair and Audit Committee Member at the Credit Suisse Funds (now under UBS), she offered a concrete framing of how professionals in analytical, quantitative and operating roles can position themselves for corporate boardrooms at a time when nominating committees are actively considering directors with AI and data governance depth. Her perspective is informed by her Nominating & Governance Committee Chair role, where she participates in director recruitment and evaluation from inside the boardroom, and she described what committees look for beyond the traditional operating CEO or CFO profile, including audit committee financial expert credentials, technology and data governance fluency.
Samantha also addressed the practical steps professionals can take to build a board-ready profile, including thought leadership contributions, faculty and speaking engagements at governance forums and non-profit or advisory board service as a stepping stone to corporate boards. She discussed the conflict-of-interest and company policy considerations that arise when professionals contemplate board service alongside a full-time role, including how to evaluate a board opportunity against an existing employer’s outside-activity policy, how to think about time commitment and fiduciary conflicts and how the board search process itself is structured, from executive search firms and board matching platforms to peer referrals and thought leadership visibility.
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.
