Steve Young is a seasoned consumer investor and operator with a rare combination of growth equity investment leadership and global C-suite operating experience across leading consumer products companies. He brings more than a decade of investment experience spanning fund management, buy-side M&A, and a strong track record of realized investments through IPOs, sponsor-backed exits, and strategic sales.
Steve is a Managing Partner of Manna Tree, where he leads the firm’s investment portfolio and serves on both the Executive and Investment Committees. Manna Tree invests across the consumer health and wellness ecosystem and has backed category-defining companies including Vital Farms, Health-Ade, Good Culture, Gotham Greens, True Food Kitchen, and Tandem Foods Manufacturing.
Previously, Steve served as EVP/Managing Director at Sunrise Strategic Partners, a consumer-focused venture fund, where he helped lead investments and successful exits in brands such as Kodiak Cakes and Vital Farms. Earlier in his investing career, he was a senior buy-side leader at General Mills, overseeing a $1 billion portfolio of emerging brands and leading the transformational acquisition and integration of Annie’s, which has more than tripled in revenue since its acquisition in 2014.
In addition to his investing background, Steve has over 20 years of operating experience at the corporate officer and CEO level. He held senior leadership roles at General Mills across cereal, snacks, yogurt, and emerging brands, and spent five years abroad with Cereal Partners Worldwide, General Mills’ joint venture with Nestlé, where he led Global Marketing based in Australia and Switzerland. Steve later served as CEO of Bellisio Foods / CP Foods North America, the third-largest frozen meals manufacturer in North America, overseeing branded, co-manufacturing, and foodservice businesses with deep retail channel partnerships.
Steve is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he lives with his wife, Denise, and their children. He is an avid cyclist and runner and enjoys the outdoors, from the lakes of Northern Minnesota to the mountains of his home state of Montana. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.