Samantha Kappagoda has been named a Qualified Risk Director® (QRD®) by the DCRO Institute, effective August 10, 2026. The QRD® designation is issued by the DCRO Institute to directors who demonstrate the attributes and experiences the DCRO’s Qualified Risk Directors Governance Council has identified as essential to effective board-level risk oversight.
The QRD® guidelines were developed in the spirit of the SEC’s Audit Committee Financial Expert definition under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and cover both risk management acumen, including understanding of the broad scope of risk, risk management best practices, the regulatory environment, financial reporting and the statistics of complexity, and personal attributes including independence, integrity, the ability to challenge group-think and the discipline to ask basic and necessary questions.
Samantha has previously earned the DCRO Institute Certificate in Risk Governance® and participated on the panel AI and Emerging Technologies: The Impact on Strategic Planning Cycles at the DCRO Institute Risk Summit in October 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 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.
