Rasal Kumar was enjoying a career rooted in technical execution, but he needed a path to achieve his long-term goal of becoming a product leader who understands both business and technology. In this Real Humans: Alumni, Kumar shares how Northwestern Kellogg transformed him into a leader who could bridge the gap between complex engineering and business strategy. Read his story to learn how Kellogg’s people and pioneers provided the best path to honing his leadership skills.
Rasal Kumar, Northwestern Kellogg MBA ’25, Senior Product Manager at Amazon
Age: 31
Hometown: Patna, India
Undergraduate Institution and Major: BITS Pilani, Majors in Mathematics and Electronics
Graduate Business School, Graduation Year and Concentration: Kellogg School of Management, Graduation Year: 2025, Concentration: 2Y program with majors in Marketing, Finance, Management Analytics
Pre-MBA Work Experience: Technical Lead at Amazon, 4 years of experience
Post-MBA Work Experience: Senior Product Manager – Tech at Amazon
Why did you choose to attend business school?
The MBA gave me a well-rounded training in business fundamentals and a low-risk environment to hone my leadership skills. I found it as the best career path of achieving my long-term goal of becoming a product leader who understands both business and technology.
Why Kellogg? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
For me, Kellogg stood out for two main reasons: the people and the pioneers. It has a uniquely inclusive culture and an alumni network that genuinely roots for your success. Combine that with the chance to learn entrepreneurship and marketing from seasoned experts like Professor Carter Cast, Mohanbir Sawhney, Kevin McTigue and Tim Calkins, and it was exactly the environment I needed to grow as a leader.
What about your MBA experience prepared you for your current career? How do you feel that your MBA has been an asset when it comes to navigating new challenges, such as AI?
Before my MBA, my career was rooted in technical execution, but Kellogg transformed me into a Product Leader who can bridge the gap between complex engineering and business strategy. The MBA curriculum provided the rigorous business fundamentals I needed to complement my background in cloud and payments. Further, through Leadership and Experiential learning courses, I learned how to lead with empathy.
Navigating a shift as massive as AI requires a framework for managing disruption and I learnt that in the Technology Marketing course with Professor Mohanbir. From building business strategies to customer experiences, the course helped me to build a mental model to understand the impact of emerging technologies like AI and 6G. Now, when I look at AI, I don’t just see a new technology. I see a way to re-architect infrastructure for better consumer experiences and efficiently run businesses.
What was your internship during business school? How did that inform your post-MBA career choice?
I interned at Amazon in a Senior PMT role in the Fraud Prevention team.
The Senior PMT role felt incredibly entrepreneurial. I wrote a business proposal to expand fraud prevention technology into a new space and pitch it to my directors. I got the opportunity work with cross-functional teams and to drive the overall strategy. Hence, I felt Amazon was the right place to begin my post-MBA career.
Why did you choose your current company? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to work?
I chose to return to Amazon because it’s a rare environment where massive scale meets a truly entrepreneurial culture. During my internship in the Fraud Prevention team, I saw how Amazon’s leadership principles allowed me to drive real impact by bridging technical architecture with business strategy. What ultimately sold me was the collaboration. Whether I’m working with AWS, Stores, or Prime, there is a unique alignment toward customer obsession. It is the perfect place for me to grow and solve complex problems that touch millions of lives.
Advice to current MBA students:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of the job search?
Genuine conversations with people to learn about so much innovation happening out there.
–One thing you would change or do differently as part of the job search?
If I were to change one thing, it would be to shift my focus earlier from ‘top-of-funnel’ volume to ‘bottom-of-funnel’ relationship building while applying for jobs.
–Were there any surprises regarding your current employer’s recruiting process?
I was waitlisted when I cleared my Amazon interviews and eventually got the offer after a couple of weeks. Amazon tries to find the best team match and fit for each student. Hence, that was a surprise for me.
–What piece of advice do you wish you had been given during your MBA?
I wish I had leaned into the campus entrepreneurial ecosystem even sooner. There is a unique window of time during your MBA where you can walk into a professor’s office with a raw idea and get world-class feedback. I’ve realized that those facilities and mentors aren’t just for founders—they are for anyone who wants to learn how to drive innovation at scale.
