Kevin James is the founder and CEO of Better Future Forward (BFF), a nonprofit working to ensure all students have the financial support to access postsecondary education—without the risk of financial hardship and the worry about whether their hard work and sacrifice will pay off.

Kevin began working on higher education and student loans while working as a legislative aide to U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (ret.)—at the time, a senior member of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce. There, Kevin oversaw the development of legislation to substantially reform the federal student loan system by strengthening and streamlining income-based repayment. Kevin was subsequently a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focused on student loan reform, quality assurance in higher education, and education innovation. He then served as Director of Higher Education at the Jain Family Institute, an applied research organization based in New York City, before founding BFF in 2017. He earned a B.S. in computer science and a B.A. in political science from Virginia Tech, and an M.A. in economics from George Mason University.