Ryan has spent the majority of his career in private investments, investing hundreds of millions of dollars across the world. The last several years have been solely dedicated to food and food-adjacent investments, from venture stage to fully-scaled businesses.
Prior to Manna Tree, Ryan led investments for 301 INC, General Mills Venture Capital Arm. In his tenure at 301 INC, Ryan led and exited a significant number of direct and fund investments across the food ecosystem, serving on boards and working with founders to drive value beyond investment. With these investments, Ryan helped advance food security through technology enabled companies, led a consortium of investors to fund a plastic recycler promoting the circular economy, and worked to further promote more equal access to capital across the venture ecosystem, to name a few. Through his work and success at 301 INC, Ryan was nominated as a Global Corporate Venturing Top 50 Rising Star. It was at 301 INC where he ignited his passion for food and the important role private capital plays in promoting access to healthy and accessible options.
During his time at General Mills, Ryan ran the global, multi-billion dollar portfolio of private investments inclusive of private equity, private credit, venture capital, real estate, energy, and infrastructure. Ryan also worked in investments at Ameriprise, a financial services company based out of Minneapolis.
Ryan lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife, Amelia, and their goldendoodle, Maple. Ryan is an avid dirt biker, skier, and road biker – really anything that involves adrenaline. Ryan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Iowa State University and an MBA from the Opus College of Business at St. Thomas.
