Supporting working families for over 50 years

We’ve built a trusted business out of caring for families and children.

In 1969, the first KinderCare opened its doors in Montgomery, Alabama, to support record numbers of mothers entering the workforce. Over 50 years later, we take pride in providing safe, nurturing care for children of modern working parents so they can pursue their dreams.

Today, KinderCare Learning Companies helps organizations and their employees better integrate work with life as the nation’s leading provider of employer-sponsored child care benefits. We’ve partnered with over 600 organizations to answer their working parents' call for quality child care in the communities where they work and live nationwide.

With twice as many learning centers as the next largest provider, our services are never subcontracted or franchised. Our over 1,400 KinderCare centers in 40 states and more than 750 Champions before- and after-school programs provide families and their children with the same high-quality curriculum and values in every classroom across the country. Our diverse offering also includes 47 Crème de la Crème centers in 14 states.

What does high-quality child care mean? It means we take the time to put our standards to the test with third-party validation. KinderCare is America’s most accredited child care provider. Accreditation is important to us because it means we’re providing the best education for the children of hardworking parents.

Our curriculum gives children a foundation they can build on for the rest of their lives. Designed using the latest research, our programs and classrooms focus on helping children build confidence socially, emotionally, and academically. It requires trained educators who take every opportunity to support little learners as they unlock a world of infinite possibilities.

And it works! Studies show KinderCare kids get the best and do better. Year after year, our findings show that the sooner children join us, and the longer they stay, the better prepared they are for elementary school overall.

Exceeding Expectations

Advancing Academics

BIGANCE® results are based on assessments of 17,705 students ages 6 weeks to 6 years old in 367 KinderCare Learning Companies centers and sites from our KinderCare Learning Centers, KinderCare Education at Work Centers, and Champions brands nationwide from fall 2021 to spring 2022. TerraNova® results are based on spring 2022 assessments of 634 students in private kindergarten classrooms in 84 KinderCare Learning Centers nationwide.

Our leaders help your leaders transform company culture.

We all want to make the juggle of work and life easier for everyone. When you become the employer supporting families with quality child care benefits like ours, you not only strengthen your culture, you give employees more confidence in you.

We're the proud winner of seven Gallup Great Workplace Awards from 2017–2023.

We know because we’ve experienced it through our own cultural transformation that improved our employee engagement rates by over 30 percent.

Meet the leaders dedicated to providing quality education.

Tom Wyatt

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Tom Wyatt is responsible for all aspects of company strategy, leadership, governance, and operations. His focus on culture led to record-high levels of employee and customer engagement, with the company earning multiple Gallup Great Workplace Awards.

Paul Thompson

President

Paul Thompson leads center operations, facilities, HR, IT, real estate, strategy, and new center growth functions. He has driven success across all brands and is responsible for shaping KinderCare’s enhanced, industry-leading health & safety practices.

Dr. Marquita Davis

Chief Academic Officer

Dr. Marquita Davis, Ph.D., oversees the development of KinderCare’s high-quality educational programs, educator professional development, quality and accreditation initiatives, research and evaluation, inclusion services, and public policy.

Jessica Harrah

Chief People Officer

Jessica Harrah oversees human resources for the company’s 35,000 employees nationwide. In addition to HR, she leads the diversity, equity and inclusion, travel and meetings, talent investment and culture, and litigation functions.

Tony Amandi

Chief Financial Officer

Tony Amandi leads the accounting, treasury, control, internal audit, tax and risk, external reporting, finance, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), information systems and procurement functions.

Dr. Elanna S. Yalow

Vice Chair and Senior Advisor

Dr. Elanna Yalow, Ph.D., M.B.A., works with stakeholders actively engaged in policies and practices that support working families including external agencies, early childhood education providers and advocacy partners, while also supporting the advancement of unique educational offerings and ongoing new business development efforts.

Dan Figurski

President, KinderCare Learning Companies For Employers and Champions

Dan brings 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and business management to his role at KinderCare Learning Companies. His leadership has accelerated the growth of Champions, our before- and after-school brand, allowing our best-in-class programming to serve more children and families with our brand of authentic engagement.

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.

Jeff Spiegel

Chief Brand Officer

Jeff Spiegel is responsible for the overall brand experience for KinderCare’s customers and leads all aspects of the company’s marketing and communications including brand marketing, content and creative development, digital products and marketing, and corporate communications. Jeff also oversees the organization’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts.

Michael Canavin

President, KinderCare Learning Centers and Crème de la Crème Schools

Michael Canavin is the President of KinderCare Learning Centers and Crème de la Crème Schools. Since joining KinderCare Learning Companies in 2015, Michael has held a number of roles including Regional Vice President and Senior Vice President for KinderCare Learning Centers.

Nathan Smalley

Senior Vice President, Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis

Nathan Smalley is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis for KinderCare Learning Companies. In his role Nathan oversees the financial and strategic planning of all corporate and field functions across the organization, including annual operating plan development and long-term strategic investment analysis.

Abe Lietz

Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer

Abe Lietz is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Information Officer for KinderCare Learning Companies. Abe leads the Information Technology function and is charged with driving digital transformation to support business growth and managing all key enterprise business systems.