Join UC Berkeley Haas Women in Leadership (WILA) for an exclusive, AI-focused event designed to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world applications. This interactive session will feature leading AI experts who will share insights on responsible AI, practical business solutions, and leadership strategies in an AI-driven world. With a mix of presentations, live demonstrations, and peer discussions, you’ll gain actionable tools to navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape and drive meaningful business transformation.

This intimate 60-minute Zoom event, limited to just 30 participants, offers a unique opportunity for Haas Alumni to explore AI’s strategic value, ethical considerations, and career opportunities. Hear from industry leaders in cybersecurity, SaaS, generative AI, and career transformation, and connect with like-minded professionals passionate about integrating AI into leadership and business practices. Secure your spot now—registration is on a first-come, first-served basis!

Featured Speakers:

Kavita Rasal
Kavita Rasal is a seasoned technology leader with 16+ years of experience in building high-performance engineering teams across SaaS companies. She is the Co-founder & CTO of MyTown AI, a GovTech startup enabling smarter decision-making for small towns, and the Founder of LightRoute Ventures LLC, an AI studio developing MVPs for startups and Fortune 500 companies.

Previously, as Co-founder & CTO of thePerks.ai, Kavita led the development of an AI-first product for D2C brands, enhancing customer retention and predicting buying behavior. Before her entrepreneurial journey, she was Director of Software Engineering at Amperity, where she led $50M ARR product engineering teams for

Customer Identity and Customer360. She also pioneered the adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) reducing total cost of implementation for customers.

Earlier, at Workday, Kavita scaled teams across North America and Ireland, expanded the DaaS platform team, driving $80M in subscription renewals, and grew Framework engineering and QA teams to support Fortune 100 customers. Kavita is passionate about leveraging technology to drive innovation, leading strategic greenfield teams, and building from the ground up. With a strong startup mindset, she excels at taking ideas from 0 to 1, leading cross-functional initiatives, and executing technical roadmaps to drive innovation and scalability.

Kavita holds an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a Master’s in Computer Science from Western Michigan University.

Gurpreet Kaur Khalsa
A seasoned product leader and AI safety advocate, Gurpreet is currently driving Generative AI security initiatives at Palo Alto Networks. With a Master’s in Information Science from UC Berkeley and a Computer Science background, she brings a unique blend of technical expertise and strategic thinking to the cybersecurity landscape. Her journey spans from engineering roles at Avaya, where she secured a USPTO patent, to product management at SS&C Eze, showcasing her evolution from technical innovation to product strategy.

Her experience as a Graduate Student Instructor at UC Berkeley, teaching courses ranging from SaaS applications to Cognitive Science, demonstrates her dedication to sharing knowledge and shaping future tech leaders.

She excels in bridging complex technical challenges with strategic business solutions, while maintaining a strong focus on making AI systems trustworthy and secure.

Jesse Manders
Jesse Manders is a senior product manager of generative AI at Amazon (AWS), and a Berkeley Haas EWMBA graduate in 2022. His experience in AI started just before the rise of ChatGPT, where he worked in data curation and labeling for traditional machine learning such as autonomous vehicles and image recognition. Now, he leads product development for generative AI evaluation products that ensure AWS’s customers’ new tools powered by large language models (LLMs) such as copilots, chat assistants, and agents are accurate and responsible. Prior to Amazon, Jesse held engineering team leadership roles at Apple and Lumileds, and was a senior scientist in a Silicon Valley consumer electronics startup. Besides his cherished MBA from Haas, he has an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Florida in Materials Science and Engineering, and a BS in Physics from Miami University.