About

About Vito Prasad

Vito Prasad is currently an MBA candidate focused on Technology Management and Entrepreneurship at UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, California. Vito has had extensive experience working in various industries, from big pharma and manufacturing to aerospace and AI-driven product management.

Vito is passionate about product development and AI innovation, which is supported by his deep technical experience. His aspiration is to combine his diverse passions and experience as a product manager in the AI, consumer, and hard tech space. At UCLA Anderson, Vito serves as Co-President of the Japan America Business Association and VP of Alumni & Corporate Relations for the Anderson Video Game Business Association.

Work Experience

AI Product Management

Vito is driven to be an empathetic product manager, focusing on understanding people’s challenges and dissecting complex problems to design meaningful features that truly address their needs.

While getting his MBA, Vito worked as a Product Manager at DocDraft, an AI-assisted business-to-consumer legal marketplace platform. As an MBA intern, he has designed an AI-powered document-generation feature, conducting user research and A/B testing to drive a 40% reduction in document creation time and a 50% increase in user subscription conversion. He also spearheaded a subscription-based model transition after performing comprehensive pricing analysis and competitor and user research. The model produced a 100%-plus increase in monthly recurring revenue.

Additionally, he pioneered an AI-driven customer-attorney matching feature, conducting hands-on user research through five+ pairings and translating insights into a prioritized feature roadmap, driving a 30% increase in customer satisfaction.

Aerospace Engineering

Prior to his work at DocDraft, Vito was a  Systems Engineer in Contamination Control for Northrop Grumman’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It was truly an “aha” experience for Vito, having grown up attending space camp in the summer and marveling at NASA Ames Research Center’s wind tunnels. Working on JWST was a perfect culmination of his lifelong passion. Ensuring this revolutionary observatory’s successful deployment was a humbling experience for Vito, as he and his colleagues’ work helped humanity peer deeper into the cosmos than ever. Every detail mattered—from critical decontamination processes to the final integration testing—as they prepared an instrument that would fundamentally change the world’s understanding of the universe.

He later served as Lead Systems Integration (LSI) Engineer for Northrop Grumman’s Strategic Systems Division. Vito led a cross-functional program for a multi-satellite project, coordinating between the government agency, prime contractor, and subcontractors; delivered comprehensive requirements analysis and performance studies for innovative product offerings.

The JWST project wasn’t Vito’s first foray into the world of space. He also was the Manufacturing Engineer at SpaceX, working directly on the Falcon 9 rocket’s propulsion and fluid systems, where every improvement in reliability brought us closer to making space travel routine and sustainable. The thrill for Vito of contributing to a reusable rocket system that revolutionized space access was matched only by seeing his and the team’s improvements translate into successful launches and landings.

Management Consulting

Vito Prasad’s work experience also includes a position as a Senior Business Analyst with Kearney’s ATI (Automotive, A&D, Transportation, Travel, and Infrastructure & Industrials) Practice. Among his accomplishments was optimizing Battery EV international supply chain routes and distribution centers via network simulations for Big Three auto clients to assess new customer delivery strategies. This reduced lead times by 50% and constrained future incremental costs to 20%.

Big Pharma and Volunteering

He also worked as a Process Development Engineer at Pearl Therapeutics—AstraZeneca, leading an E2E product development initiative, doubling production efficiency in three months via novel process controls, managing international tech transfer and validation of next-gen equipment for FDA-approved respiratory treatment, and increasing global supply by threefold. Vito also worked on the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program for two years and was a COVID-19 Vaccine Site Volunteer for four months.

The Early Years

Vito was born to first-generation immigrant parents in a multilingual household where his father spoke five languages and his mother three. Vito’s first word at the age of two was “why,” reflecting the inquisitive nature that would shape his passions and the work he does. Vito speaks fluent Japanese, having spent some of his formative years in Japan, and was one of the earliest adopters of the Pokémon fad in the ’90s.

Vito attended Cornell University and received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, where he was the Secretary of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Project Leader—ChemE Car, and a Cornell Orientation Leader.

Interests & Hobbies

Away from his studies and the office, you’ll also find Vito brewing coffee with his extensive collection of equipment or planning his next journey to a Japanese whiskey distillery. A passion for brewing also led him to work at the iconic Anchor Brewing Company, where he gained firsthand experience in production processes. As a bonus, he could give his friends a free tour of the brewery.

Outside, Vito loves playing tennis and is a feared left-handed player. He’s also been a distance runner since high school, ever since a friend and Vito decided to run down one of the longest streets in their town. To their surprise, the street turned out to be over 15 miles long. Vito also enjoys birdwatching, cooking Japanese soul food, analyzing cinema and film, and curating travel and restaurant lists for his friends.