Leadership
Our corporate leaders and experts in early childhood education manage KinderCare’s operations nationally to ensure the highest quality care.
Leadership
Tom Wyatt, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Paul Thompson, President
Before joining KinderCare, Paul was with Safeway from 2005-2015, starting as the VP of Finance. Over the next eight years, Paul held a variety of roles of increasing responsibility, including Group VP, Financial Planning and Analysis, and SVP, Finance, Pricing and Enterprise Systems. Prior to joining Safeway, Paul worked at Pillsbury for 13 years.
Marquita Davis, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer
Marquita has more than 20 years of experience in early childhood education, non-profit leadership, government and philanthropy, including nearly six years as deputy director of Early Learning at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she led the foundation’s multi-state early learning strategy which aims to ensure all young children have access to high-quality, effective and affordable preschool.
Prior to her work at the foundation, Marquita was the executive director of a large non-profit agency. At this same agency, she previously served as deputy director of child development services overseeing several early childhood federal programs, including Head Start, Early Head and Child Care Partnerships. Appointed by two governors, Marquita also served as the director of finance for the State of Alabama, commissioner for the Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs, and Pre-K director for the state of Alabama.
Jessica Harrah, Chief People Officer
Jessica Harrah is the Chief People Officer for KinderCare, overseeing human resources for the company’s 35,000 employees nationwide. She leads HR operations, talent acquisition, employee experience, employee relations, travel and meetings, and talent investment and culture. Since joining KinderCare in 2005, Jessica has held numerous roles within the company, including SVP of Human Resources, Senior Associate Council, and Staff Attorney.
Jessica’s commitment to improving access to childcare for working families and elevating teachers, many of whom are working moms, is what informed her decision to work in early childhood education. She is a firm believer that engaged teams produce the best work and drive positives outcomes both for the company and for society. Jessica challenges her team to build an environment where people are proud to work and continually pushes for experiences that are authentic to KinderCare’s mission and culture.
Tony Amandi, Chief Financial Officer
Before joining KinderCare in 2009, Tony worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers for nearly 10 years in their Audit and Assurance practice. He also served as the project leader for a Fortune 100 company during the first year of 404 controls implementation and integrated audit approach and lead the audit and advisory engagements of public and non-public, multinational and multilocation companies.
Dr. Elanna S. Yalow, Ph.D., M.B.A., Vice Chair and Senior Advisor
In her current role, Elanna works closely with stakeholders actively engaged in policies and practices that support working families including local, state, and federal agencies, early childhood education providers and advocacy partners. She also helps advance the quality of KinderCare’s unique educational offerings and supports the company's ongoing new business development efforts.
Prior to joining KinderCare, Elanna was Associate Director of IOX Assessment Associates, serving as Project Director for educational assessment and health education research and development projects. She is actively engaged in educational policy at the federal and state level. She has testified on Capitol Hill about the importance of quality early childhood education and participated in White House-led initiatives. In 2020, she was appointed by the Governor of Oregon to its Task Force on Access to Quality Affordable Child Care. She publishes and presents extensively on issues related to educational policy and practice, both globally and domestically.
Elanna is a Board member of Guardian Child Care and Education, a child care company operating in Australia, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She holds both a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Lindsay Sorhondo, Chief Innovation Officer
Lindsay Sorhondo is the Chief Innovation Officer for KinderCare Learning Companies. In her role Lindsay oversees business and growth strategy, as well as family and center operations. She brings the company’s transformational work from a vision into reality, helping identify new avenues of growth and expanding on a foundation of operational excellence.
Lindsay joined the company as Director of Employee and Family Experience in 2013. For the last eight years, she has helped the organization build stronger business and execution capability – working across all National Support Center departments and with field leadership to drive business outcomes.
Prior to joining KinderCare, Lindsay worked at ANN Inc. in New York City. She also served as a consultant for Gallup.