Karen and Jerry Glenn
President and Administrative Director
Karen and her husband, Jerry, are residents of Johnston. They have three children: Joey, Alison, and Cole. Joey, a graduate of the University of Iowa and Palmer College in San Jose, California, is a doctor of chiropractics and, together with his bride Hannah, own Engineered Per4mance. Alison, also a graduate of the University of Iowa, is one of our Regional Directors. After graduating from the University of Iowa majoring in Environmental Science, Cole moved to Dubuque, Iowa to follow his passion in Aquarium Science at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. Go Hawks!
Karen is a Licensed Practical Nurse and has a degree in Early Childhood Education. She has over 20 years of experience managing and operating child development centers. Karen is dedicated to her profession and has made a commitment to the community to provide an educational and fun environment for all children at Generation Next.
Alex Glenn
Director of Human Resources and Social Media
Alex graduated summa cum laude from Iowa State University in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a certification to teach secondary education (as well as a second-place finish in intramural table tennis). After his student teaching at Lincoln High School was completed in Des Moines, he began working at Generation Next as an educator and was promoted in April 2013. Currently, he is in charge of Human Resources, social media, and tuition billing. He travels throughout all five of the centers making sure all of our staff and families are taken care of, but you will most likely see him at his office at our Ankeny location. Outside of working hours, he can be found cheering on Iowa State and the Kansas City Chiefs. He currently resides in Ankeny with his wife and co-worker, Kimberly, and daughter, Isla.
Mary Beth Corrigan
Regional Director of Operations and Programming
Mary Beth and her husband, Brandon, are residents of Johnston. They have two children, Michael and Alicia. Mary Beth has a degree in Early Childhood Education and has close to 20 years experience as a manager operating child development centers. While Mary Beth is the head director at our Johnston location, she will be responsible for maintaining an appropriate environment for all children at all of our Generation Next facilities.
Ali Tannatt
Regional Director of Curriculum, Programming, and Training
Ali, her husband, Ty, son, Banks, and daughter, Rosie, are residents of Ankeny. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 2011 with a degree in Elementary Education, specializing in Science and Social Sciences. With her parents, Ali has worked at several child development centers since the age of 14 and has completed multiple classroom practicums at elementary schools in the Iowa City and Johnston school districts respectively. She has been responsible for developing and maintaining the Aurora Business Park’s curriculum for over two years, was responsible for the educational direction and day to day operations at our Ankeny location, and is now responsible for enhancing the curriculum and providing exceptional training for new teachers.
Kimberly Glenn
Director of Programming and Orientation
Kimberly is a resident of Ankeny with her husband and co-worker, Alex, and daughter, Isla. She graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Elementary Education, specializing in English & Language Arts, and Reading endorsements. She has been involved in both Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education since 2015. Before her current role, Kimberly worked as an educator at our Ankeny location while finishing her degree. She is now responsible for providing training for new teachers and programming and implementing curriculum. She travels throughout all five centers to help in classrooms and give assistance whenever necessary. She is ecstatic to be a part of Generation Next and hopeful to create a playful but safe environment for all children.
Carrie Dotson
Assistant Director, Johnston
Carrie is a resident of Johnston, with her daughter, Kaia, and her son, Jax. She attended Iowa State University and majored in Early Childhood Education. Carrie has been working at Generation Next since 2008 as an educator and was promoted to Assistant Director in 2012 in preparation of our Ankeny facility. You will be able to see Carrie assisting MaryBeth in the day to day operations at our Johnston location where she has built an excellent rapport with children, staff, and parents.
Paula Garza
Director, Urbandale
Paula is a resident of Des Moines with her husband, Randy. Originally from South Texas, Paula attended Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa and graduated with a degree Elementary Education with endorsements in early childhood, reading, special education, and coaching. She most recently worked at Head Start in Osceola where she was the director and head pre-school teacher. She maintains the Aurora Business Park curriculum and relationships with our students, parents, and staff alongside Kristy.
Kristy Scherr
Director, Urbandale
Kristy is a resident of Johnston with her husband, Michael. Kristy attended the University of Northern Iowa double majoring in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and graduated with a Bachelor Degree is Education. Beginning in 2009, Kristy had been a Senior teacher at our Johnston location, helping Mary Beth and Carrie with managerial duties until her promotion to Director in 2020. She now works out of our Aurora Business Park location in Urbandale, assisting Paula in the curriculum, administration, and care of that center.
Samantha Cornelius
Director, Ankeny
Samantha started working at Generation Next in 2013 as an educator in the graduate classroom. In the summer of 2017, Sam was promoted to Training Development Supervisor and in 2020 was again promoted to Director of our Ankeny location after completion of her Director’s Certification. Sam has spent clinical hours in both elementary and secondary education for Ankeny Community School District. She currently resides in Ankeny with her daughter, Willow.
Madison Thielen
Assistant Director, Ankeny
Madison is a resident of Des Moines, with her husband, Sam, and daughter, Raelynn. She resided in Ankeny most of her life, graduating from Ankeny High School and joining Generation Next in 2014 as an afternoon floating educator. While attending Des Moines Area Community College and, ultimately, earning a degree in liberal arts in 2020, Madison worked with our Toddlers and Sophomores until she was promoted to Assistant Director working alongside Samantha.
Hali Oberender
Director, West Des Moines
Hali and her husband, Chad, are residents of Martensdale, just South of Des Moines. Hali and Chad are always on the go with their two children, Ava and Nolan. Hali graduated from Grand View College with a BA in Elementary Education, but discovered working with younger children was where her heart was. She has been in the early childhood field since 2001, and in early childhood management since 2011. She joined the Generation Next team with the opening of our West Des Moines location in fall of 2015.
Sara Woody
Assistant Director, West Des Moines
Sara has over twenty years of experience in child care, including two years of running her own in-home daycare in her home state of Idaho. She most recently worked as an educator in our Junior room until her promotion to Assistant Director in 2022. She and husband Randall moved to Iowa in 2006 to be nearer to family and for Randall to begin a career as General Manager at ABM Parking. Sara has been with us since opening our West Des Moines center in November of 2015. Sara, Randall, and their son Nicholas currently reside in Norwalk.
Emily Christensen
Director, Bondurant
Emily and her husband, Nik, reside in Des Moines with their daughter, Gemma, and two dogs, Rowe and Murphy. Emily attended Des Moines North High School. Shortly after graduation in 2012, Emily joined our Generation Next team in Johnston as a Toddler teacher. She has had 10 years of experience in multiple classrooms with the Nursery being most recent until her promotion to Director in August 2022.
Kelsey Tingwald
Assistant Director, Bondurant
A graduate of Bondurant High School, Kelsey currently resides in Ankeny with her fiancé Hunter and daughter Harper. She is currently pursuing an accounting degree, and has over five years of experience in child care, most recently as our Toddler teacher. Before starting with Generation Next in 2021, Kelsey worked in healthcare as a patient care technician. Kelsey is happy to rejoin and serve the Bondurant community.
Our Educators
Provide a variety of instructional techniques.
Implement our goals and objectives.
Provides attention to individual differences.
Are knowledgeable of the early childhood practices.
Provide a safe and orderly classroom.