James Kvaal is a senior advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. He assists the Under Secretary in her responsibilities overseeing policies, programs, and activities related to postsecondary education, vocational and adult education, and federal student aid.

In 2009 and 2010, Kvaal was a special assistant to President Obama for economic policy. At the White House, Kvaal worked on community college reform, simplifying the student aid application, and student debt, as well as other labor and retirement issues. Before joining the Administration, Kvaal was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and the policy director on John Edwards' presidential campaign, where he coordinated the development of the candidate's domestic policy platform including plans to create universal health care, fight poverty, and address climate change. He has also worked on higher education policy in the Clinton White House and for the House Committee on Education and Labor and a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

His writings on domestic policy have appeared in The New Republic, The American Prospect, Tax Notes, and other publications. He holds degrees earned with honors from Stanford University and Harvard Law School and lives in Washington, DC.