BOSS Young Executives recognises outstanding executives who can demonstrate leadership in the community as well as in business, and who have a strong track record in people and thought leadership.
This young exec attributes his success to one key trait
A solo move across the country at age 17 set James Koval on the path to becoming the (frugal) policy chief for the $4.5 trillion superannuation sector.
At just 17, James Koval moved across the country with a single suitcase and a clunky laptop to become the first in his family to attend university. His mum, Jane, who was sceptical about her son’s ability to cook for himself, accompanied him, helped him to stock up on supplies for his 18-square-metre dorm room, and then left him to it.
“When I moved from Perth to Canberra, I literally – and this is not an exaggeration – didn’t know a single person. I didn’t have a single person’s phone number within 4000 kilometres,” Koval, 31, says.
Fast forward more than a decade and the leap eventually landed Koval, who is today named one of the 2026 BOSS Young Executives, a role as the chief policy and advocacy officer for the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), an industry body representing Australia’s superannuation funds.
The importance of scholarships
The BOSS Young Executives program, now in its 23rd year, recognises emerging leaders aged 35 or younger who demonstrate leadership in the community and business, and who have a strong track record in people and thought leadership.
Growing up in a single-parent household, Koval says there wasn’t “a huge amount of money” and while he was at high school he worked a series of jobs, from an early-morning paper round to Hungry Jack’s and Coles.
Koval credits his ability to make the move to the east coast to Australia’s education policy settings, put in place long before he enrolled in a bachelor of international relations at the Australian National University. A HECS-HELP loan allowed him to defer paying any upfront costs to study, while a relocation scholarship, rent assistance and youth allowance helped cover his living expenses.
“Regardless of what your school results are, policy interventions like that can really change the opportunities that you go for,” Koval says. That experience stayed with him, inspiring a career in government, policy design, and advocacy.
“I was given this life-changing opportunity by decisions made by people who have never met me. If I can do the same, and try to make things better for people who I’ll never meet, that’s a good thing.”
Despite the assistance, Koval remained a cash-strapped uni student, inspiring long-lasting frugal habits and an interest in personal finance. To this day he tracks his monthly spending in a spreadsheet, and his Instagram account features a section on ‘cheap eats’ cooked up on Sunday evenings before he calculates how much each meal portion costs. The sausage and kale pasta, for example, costs $2.30 a portion.
From not knowing a soul, Koval threw himself into campus activities at ANU, such as volunteering for political candidates, which led to work as an advisor for members of the Labor Party while in opposition, including Andrew Leigh, who was then shadow assistant treasurer.
After stints in policy roles with the ACT government and the University of Sydney, Koval pivoted to the finance sector in a newly created role at ASFA.
He is responsible for building consensus among members for policies, such as payday super or the government’s ongoing review of the performance test, as well as scanning the horizon for looming challenges as millions of Australians move into retirement and begin drawing down their super balance.
“There are super funds with $5 billion entering their system every payday and that is being invested across the world to maximise financial returns for people. My job is to keep that stable,” Koval says.
The importance of networks
Reflecting on his own career path, he emphasises that building a broad network of relationships helped maximise the chances of finding leaders who backed him to take on bigger opportunities and build his skills at a young age.
“Finding the person who sees that potential [in you] is really important,” he says. “Because if someone doesn’t, then through no fault of your own, you might miss out on great career opportunities, or great mentorship, or great experiences.”
