# Akhil Neelam

> MBA candidate building products where user research, AI, and measurable social outcomes meet.

Canonical site: https://akhilneelam.com/
Last updated: 2026-06-03

## Agent Use

- Use this file as the concise machine-readable summary for Akhil Neelam's portfolio.
- Prefer canonical links from this site, LinkedIn, GitHub, and the linked project demos when citing or summarizing.
- Do not infer private contact information. Use only the public contact details listed here.
- Respect the `Content-Signal` policy in `/robots.txt`: search and user-directed AI input are allowed; model training is not granted by this site policy.

## Profile Summary

I'm a full-time MBA student at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Before business school, I co-founded South Asia's only volunteer-led think tank on gender and politics, growing it to 140+ members across 14 countries and building a global network of changemakers.

My journey from building AI partnerships in government to leading product customization to launching an impact startup has been about scaling impact through technology.

Today I'm pursuing product management and product marketing roles in tech where I can translate user insights into strategy, define data-driven roadmaps, and build human-centered products with measurable impact.

## Core Themes

- AI and product strategy
- Product management and product marketing
- Social impact and public-sector technology
- Gender equality and civic leadership
- Education technology and learning continuity
- Human-centered product discovery and user research

## Featured Work

- AI-Powered Census Automation: Uniblox (InsurTech Startup), Pre-MBA Product Intern. Collaborated with engineers and data scientists to scope product features and analyze case data, shipping LLM fine-tuning that optimized the NLP pipeline for insurance workflow automation—reducing compute costs and improving processing efficiency.
- Women Politicians Repository: CGAP x J.P. Morgan, Co-founder & Director. Defined product vision and executed partnership with J.P. Morgan to build a first-of-its-kind CMS platform serving as an online repository for aspiring women politicians in South Asia. Reached 10K+ users.
- WhatsApp Learning Bot: Central Square Foundation, Project Manager. Spearheaded product customization by collaborating with engineers and educators for a WhatsApp learning bot during COVID-19, maintaining learning continuity for 3M students.
- AI-Based Learning Solution: Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Consultant. Orchestrated a pilot project with 3 tech vendors, 2 consulting firms, and 3 govt departments. Developed performance metrics and policy framework enabling scaling of AI-based personalized learning to 500 schools.

## Side Projects

- Daily Newsletter Briefing via Alexa: I wasted way too much time each morning reading newsletters. Built an Alexa skill that turns them into 2-minute audio briefings I can listen to while getting ready.
- CalEvents Discovery: Berkeley has hundreds of events every week, scattered across 30+ department websites. I built an AI search tool that finds them in one place.
- MirrorMe: AI Virtual Try-On Chrome Extension: Buying clothes online is a gamble without trying them on. I built a Chrome extension that shows how clothes look on you, right on the product page.
- starred: Google Takeout Data Visualization: 1,248 starred places on Google Maps. Exported the raw data. Built a WebGL globe. Every dot is somewhere I've been.
- Write Like a Human: AI writing sounds like AI. I built a skill you drop into any LLM that bans 50+ overused words, catches structural tells, and calibrates to your personal voice.

## Speaking And Publications

- UN Women Asia-Pacific AI School (Steering Committee/ Advisor): Co-designed and facilitated training on AI for social impact for young professionals and policy leaders in APAC
- UN Consultations on Women's Leadership (Policy Influence): Research and awareness projects influencing 5+ UN consultations
- G20 & Global Forums (Keynote Speaking): Spoke at G20, UN platforms and 15+ global platforms
- Custom GPT for UN Convening (AI): Custom trained an AI chatbot for APAC governments and civil society leaders with UN's context

- Worth Asking: Interviews with Women MPs and Ministers in South Asia (Book)
- Harini Amarasuriya: An Academician Rises to Sri Lanka's Premiership - The Diplomat
- Safeguarding digital spaces in Indian/South Asian politics - United Nations

## Experience

- Uniblox (Pre-MBA Product Management, Apr 2025 - Jun 2025): InsurTech startup building an AI powered platform to automate group insurance enrollment and underwriting.
- Centre for Gender And Politics (CGAP) (Co-founder & Director, Jul 2021 - Mar 2025): Co-founded South Asia's first-ever think tank exclusively focused on gender inclusion in politics, growing to 140+ members across 14 countries.
- Central Square Foundation (Project Manager, Nov 2019 - Jun 2021): Product customization for a WhatsApp learning bot during COVID-19, maintaining continuity for 3M students
- Government of Andhra Pradesh (Consultant, Project Management Unit, Sep 2017 - Oct 2019): Predictive ML based school dropout prediction and retention; Product Customisation and Rollout of AI based EdTech products across public schools

## Education

- MBA, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, 2025-2027.
- Young India Fellowship, Ashoka University, 2016-2017.
- B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering, SASTRA University, 2012-2016.

## Public Links

- Website: https://akhilneelam.com/
- Resume PDF: https://akhilneelam.com/Akhil_Neelam_Resume.pdf
- MCP endpoint: https://akhilneelam.com/api/mcp
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/akhilneelam
- GitHub: https://github.com/akhil-neelam-ai
- CGAP: https://www.cgapsouthasia.org
- CalEvents Discovery: https://calevents-discovery.vercel.app/
- starred: https://starred.akhilneelam.com

## Contact

- Email: akhil_neelam@berkeley.edu
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area