Board and committee service Samarasekera was appointed to the board of directors for Scotiabank in 2008, and for Magna International in 2014. She was appointed chair of the Worldwide Universities Network in 2012, serves on the CEO of the Year Advisory Committee and has served as both board member and chair of the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT). Samarasekera is on the board of directors of TC Energy, owner of the Keystone Pipeline, appointed in 2016. She has served as a member of Canada's Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC), the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on the Public Service, the Conference Board of Canada and the Public Policy Forum. From 2010 to 2012, she attended the World Economic Forum in Davos and has participated as either a speaker or a moderator. Public profile In July 2009, the University of Alberta purchased Samarasekera's private residence for $930,000, representing approximately $180,000 profit for Samarasekera, and the home was renovated by the university. University administration was criticized by some for the initiative, given budget shortfalls at the time. Brian Heidecker, chair of the University of Alberta's Board of Governors, said the purchase gave the university a strategic advantage, noting that the residence would serve as a strong inducement when recruiting future presidents. Samarasekera continues to live at the home and pays rent based on fair market value. In an interview with the Edmonton Journal on October 21, 2009, Samarasekera raised her concerns regarding the fact that 58% of university undergraduates in Canada were female. She commented, "I'm going to be an advocate for young white men, because I can be. No one is going to question me when I say we have a problem", and "We'll wake up in 20 years and we will not have the benefit of enough male talent at the heads of companies and elsewhere." A group of students responded by putting up posters satirizing her comments. Campus Security took down the posters within 24 hours and warned the students responsible of possible disciplinary action." Samaraskera responded by noting that she appreciated satire as a form of freedom of speech, but hoped that such debate be held in a cordial and respectable manner. In the wake of deep government cuts to the cuts to the Alberta post-secondary sector in 2013, debate ensued on and off campus as to how the university should respond. Samarasekara undertook to limit her international