Appointments, Awards & Establishment

Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai Were Reappointed to ABA SciTech Leadership Positions

Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai have been reappointed to American Bar Association Science and Technology Law (SciTech) Section leadership positions, where they have been active members since 2019 and 2018 respectively.

Samantha Kappagoda will continue serving as Vice-Chair of both the Big Data Committee and the Internet-of-Things Committee. She previously also served from 2019 to 2023 as Vice-Chair of the Insurance Technology and Risk Committee.

Dr. Mordecai has been reappointed as Chair of the Space Law Committee, and Co-Chair of the Nanotechnology Committee, and previously also served as Vice-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics from 2018 to 2022. In addition, Dr. Mordecai has been an invited speaker at the AI & Robotics Institute in both 2021 and 2020. Both Kappagoda and Mordecai were invited speakers at the 2019 American Bar Association Annual Meeting and 34^th Intellectual Property Law Conference (ABA-IPL).

Recently Dr. Mordecai and Ms. Kappagoda co-authored a two-part article published in the Fall 2022 and Winter 2023 Issues of the American Bar Association (ABA) SciTech Lawyer, entitled Objects May Be Closer Than They Appear: Uncertainty and Reliability Implications of Computer Vision Depth Estimation for Vehicular Collision Avoidance and Navigation. Recent events accompanying increased adoption of machine learning applications of computer vision to safety-critical use-cases for cyberphysical systems has sharpened focus on the necessity of risk mitigation, reliability, safety, and security. An emergent risk domain across embedded cyberphysical systems involves the proliferation of camera-based autonomous driver assistance and vehicular navigation systems and the application of computer vision technology to perform the complex tasks of depth estimation, as well as object detection and image recognition. The two installments in this series primarily focused on depth estimation tasks associated with operating and environmental conditions as well as spatial and temporal scales generally applicable to rural and highway settings (Part 1) and to urban settings (Part 2).

In addition, Dr. Mordecai recently authored The Critical Role of Transmission and Storage Capacity in Balancing Intermittent Generation and Transient Load, in the Winter 2023 issue of ABA Natural Resources and Environment, as well as Automated Personal Assistants with Multiple Principals: Whose Agent Is It? in the Winter 2020 edition of ABA SciTech Lawyer.

Dr. Mordecai and Ms. Kappagoda are President and Chief Economist, respectively, of Risk Economics, Inc. Dr Mordecai is also Adjunct Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Visiting Scholar at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU, advising research at RiskEcon^® Lab @ Courant Institute. Ms. Kappagoda is also Visiting Scholar at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU, co-advising research at RiskEcon^® Lab @ Courant Institute.

About Risk Economics, Inc.

The Risk Economics^® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators.

Samantha Kappagoda Elected to the Boards of the Credit Suisse US Mutual Funds as an Independent Director/Trustee

Samantha Kappagoda was Elected to the Boards of the Credit Suisse US Mutual Funds as an Independent Director / Trustee

Risk Economics, Inc. is pleased to announce that Samantha Kappagoda, Chief Economist, has been elected to the Boards of the Credit Suisse US Mutual Funds as an Independent Director/Trustee, effective January 1, 2023.

The Credit Suisse US Mutual Funds are managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management, LLC, which is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Credit Suisse Group AG. The Credit Suisse US Mutual Funds include eight funds investing in commodity, quantitative and high yield and credit strategies:

Open-End Funds: Credit Suisse Commodity Return Strategy Fund, Credit Suisse Floating Rate High Income Fund, Credit Suisse Strategic Income Fund, Credit Suisse Managed Futures Strategy Fund, Credit Suisse Multialternative Strategy Fund, and Credit Suisse Trust – Commodity Return Strategy Portfolio
Closed-End Funds: Credit Suisse Asset Management Income Fund (NYSE: CIK) and Credit Suisse High Yield Bond Fund (NYSE:DHY)

For further information, visit: https://am.credit-suisse.com/us/en/asset-management.html.

Ms Kappagoda, is Chief Economist and Co-Founder of Risk Economics, a New York based advisory firm. Her primary focus is the development of analytics for modeling trends and patterns across global asset classes, markets, regions, sectors and industries. Her areas of expertise and experience include portfolio strategy for foreign exchange, fixed income, commodities, and capital markets activity as well as econometric time-series and longitudinal analyses of business cycle dynamics, retail consumer behavior, real estate and housing markets, consumption spending and labor income, income distribution related to health, aging, retirement, population and immigration, and other demographic and socioeconomic indicators.

About Risk Economics, Inc.
Risk Economics specializes in economic analysis of risk and liability. It provides advisory services at the intersection of commercial business-process engineering and risk engineering with a particular focus on coupling commercial reinsurance and financial technology, through the rigorous application of agent-based, demographic, and statistical methodologies to microeconomic and macroeconomic analytics.

The Risk Economics® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators. For further information, please visit: https://riskeconomicsinc.com/.

David K.A. Mordecai Was Appointed as ABA Technical Advisor to Uniform Law Commission Study Committee on Use of Tokens in Real Property Transactions

David K.A. Mordecai Was Appointed as ABA Technical Advisor to the Uniform Law Commission Study Committee on Use of Tokens in Real Property Transactions

David K.A. Mordecai, President of Risk Economics, was appointed as American Bar Association (ABA) Technical Advisor to the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) Study Committee on Use of Tokens or Other Similar Products in Real Property Transactions. The committee studies the need for and feasibility of a uniform or model act addressing issues related to the use of non-fungible tokens (or other similar products) in the transfer and financing of real property.

David K.A. Mordecai was appointed in 2020 as an ABA technical advisor to the ULC Committee on Mitigation of Public Health Emergency Business Disruptions, which studies the need for and feasibility of one or more uniform state laws providing special rules and procedures to mitigate the impact of an epidemic, a pandemic or other public health emergency on the operation of businesses. He has also served since 2019 as an ABA technical advisor on the ULC Study Committee on Event Data Recorders in Cars which is studying the need for and feasibility of uniform or model state legislation concerning event data recorders and generated vehicle data.

Samantha Kappagoda, Chief Economist of Risk Economics, was appointed in 2020 as an ABA technical advisor to the ULC Committee on Public Health Emergency Authorities committee, which studies and reports on the need for and feasibility of one or more uniform state laws addressing the authority of state governments to respond to epidemics, pandemics and other public health emergencies.

David K.A. Mordecai and Samantha Kappagoda are both active ABA members. Dr. Mordecai serves as Chair of the Science & Technology Law Section Space Law Committee and Co-Chair of Nanotechnology Committee, having previously served as Vice-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Committee from 2018 to 2022. Ms. Kappagoda is Vice-Chair of three Science & Technology Law Section committees: Insurance Technology and Risk, Big Data and Internet of Things.

Dr. Mordecai has been an invited speaker at the AI & Robotics Institute in both 2021 and 2020. Both Kappagoda and Mordecai were invited speakers at the 2019 American Bar Association Annual Meeting and 34^th Intellectual Property Law Conference (ABA-IPL) in Crystal City, Virginia.

Kappagoda and Mordecai have recently published an article in the ABA SciTech Lawyer Fall 2022 Unintended Consequences issue entitled Objects May be Closer Than They Appear: Uncertainty and Reliability Implications of Computer Vision Depth Estimation for Vehicular Collision Avoidance and Navigation (Part 1 of 2).

In addition, Dr. Mordecai authored the article Automated Personal Assistants with Multiple Principals: Whose Agent Is It? in the Winter 2020 edition of ABA SciTech Lawyer.

Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai Were Appointed to Leadership Positions of American Bar Association SciTech Section Committees

Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai Appointed to Leadership Positions of American Bar Association SciTech Section Committees

Risk Economics is pleased to announce that Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai have been appointed to leadership positions of the American Bar Association (ABA) SciTech Section Committees.

Samantha Kappagoda has been newly appointed as Vice-Chair of the Big Data Committee, and Vice-Chair of the Internet of Things Committee. She was reappointed, and continues to serve as Vice-Chair of the Insurance Technology and Risk Committee since 2019.

David K.A. Mordecai has been reappointed as Chair of the Space Law Committee, and Co-Chair of the Nanotechnology Committee, and previously also served as Vice-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics Committee from 2018 to 2022.

Kappagoda and Mordecai are active members of the ABA. Dr. Mordecai has been an invited speaker at the AI & Robotics Institute in both 2021 and 2020. Both Kappagoda and Mordecai were invited speakers at the 2019 American Bar Association Annual Meeting and 34^th Intellectual Property Law Conference (ABA-IPL) in Crystal City, Virginia. In addition, Dr. Mordecai authored the article Automated Personal Assistants with Multiple Principals: Whose Agent Is It? in the Winter 2020 edition of ABA SciTech Lawyer.

About Risk Economics, Inc.

Risk Economics specializes in economic analysis of risk and liability. It provides advisory services at the intersection of commercial business-process engineering and risk engineering with a particular focus on coupling commercial reinsurance and financial technology, through the rigorous application of agent-based, demographic, and statistical methodologies to microeconomic and macroeconomic analytics.The Risk Economics^® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators.

David Mordecai Joins the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Faculty

Risk Economics is pleased to announce that David K.A. Mordecai has been invited to join the faculty at his alma mater, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. As Adjunct Professor of Econometrics and Statistics, he will be teaching a foundational graduate-level course in business statistics in the Autumn 2022 quarter.

David K.A. Mordecai, Ph.D. is President and Co-Founder of Risk Economics, a New York City based advisory firm. Risk Economics specializes in the application of computational economics and statistics to the proprietary development and scalable implementation of robust modeling and data analytic frameworks for valuation, strategic and systemic risk analysis, and dynamic asset-liability management. As Practice Lead for the Risk Economics^® litigation, regulation and arbitration expert advisory practice, David K.A. Mordecai serves as an expert on (i) loss causation and economic damages related to liability from operational and model risk, machine testimony, algorithmic bias, as well as (ii) the analysis of computational and digital forensics, (iii) market structure, (iv) financial institutions governance, (v) complex issues related to finance, economics and market standards and practices within securities, derivatives, reinsurance, and commodities markets, as well as (vi) industrial engineering, economics and market structure across a diverse range of non-financial industry sectors.

Since 2013, Dr. Mordecai has also served as the first Scientist-in-Residence at FinTech Innovation Lab, an accelerator platform for early and growth stage technology firms, organized by The Partnership Fund for New York City in conjunction with Accenture and a consortium of venture capital firms and global financial institutions.

He earned a Ph.D. with concentrations in Econometrics/Mathematical Statistics and Economics/ Industrial Organization from the University of Chicago, and an M.B.A. in Finance from NYU Stern School of Business. His dissertation research applied principal components analysis to risk-based leverage estimation with a focus upon empirical tests of the limits of arbitrage, and how market shocks trigger contagion via the financing of highly leveraged financial institutions during periods of extreme market volatility. In addition to studying financial economics and market microstructure, as well as the economics of law, regulation and industry structure, his doctoral education included the study of Bayesian decision theory, social network analysis and behavioral economics.

About the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with nine Nobel laureates in the Economic Sciences, more than any other business school in the world.

About Risk Economics, Inc.

Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai were Appointed as American Bar Association Advisors to Uniform Law Commission Study Committees

Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai Were Appointed as American Bar Association Technical Advisors to Uniform Law Commission Study Committees

Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai were each appointed as American Bar Association (ABA) Advisors to Uniform Law Commission (ULC) Study Committees.

Samantha Kappagoda was appointed as an ABA technical advisor to the newly-formed ULC Committee on Public Health Emergency Authorities. This committee studies and reports on the need for and feasibility of one or more uniform state laws addressing the authority of state governments to respond to epidemics, pandemics and other public health emergencies.

David K.A. Mordecai was also appointed as an ABA technical advisor to the ULC Committee on Mitigation of Public Health Emergency Business Disruptions, which studies the need for and feasibility of one or more uniform state laws providing special rules and procedures to mitigate the impact of an epidemic, a pandemic or other public health emergency on the operation of businesses. He also serves as an ABA technical advisor on the ULC Study Committee on Event Data Recorders in Cars which is studying the need for and feasibility of uniform or model state legislation concerning event data recorders and generated vehicle data.

Samantha Kappagoda and David K.A. Mordecai are both active ABA members. Samantha Kappagoda is Vice-Chair of the Science & Technology Law Section’s Insurance Technology and Risk Committee and David Mordecai serves as Vice-Chair of the Science & Technology Law Section Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Committee, and the Nanotechnology Committee.