Who We Are

Allyson believes that how people choose to nourish their minds, bodies, and souls is reflected in their ability to discover their best selves. She supports her life by eating nutritious and straightforward food, building strength and stamina through exercise, doing challenging and meaningful work, creating good vibes by spending time outdoors with the sun on her face, and playing in the snow. Most importantly, she wants to spend time with family and close friends. These are the factors that lead to a fully healthy life.

Ally graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a BA in Economics and worked for Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management in Chicago, Zayo Group, and Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network. Ally brings over 15 years of experience in investor relations and operations in the financial services and telecommunications industries to Manna Tree. As a member of the investor team, she manages Fund communications and relationship management with current and prospective Limited Partners and the fundraising process for co-investment opportunities.

Throughout her involvement in Colorado’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, Ally has built a network of successful operators, investors, and community leaders that can be leveraged to support Manna Tree, our partners, and our portfolio companies. Ally lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and young children, and loves running, cycling, snowboarding, the great “foodie” culture, and 300+ days of sunshine. She also loves to hike and run in the mountains, especially around Telluride and Leadville.

Steve Young is a leader in the global food and beverage industry, with over 25 years of experience in both large companies and small emerging brands focused on health and wellness and driving change in our broader food system.

Prior to Manna Tree, Steve served as the Chief Executive Officer of Bellisio Foods, the third largest manufacturer of frozen meals in North America.  Bellisio has deep roots as an entrepreneurial, disruptive business, dating back to its origins in Duluth, Minnesota over 50 years ago.  The company has a portfolio of businesses in the branded, co-manufacturing and foodservice spaces – with strong relationships across all retail channels.  Bellisio was acquired in 2018 by CP Foods, a global food leader based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Steve served as the EVP, Managing Director for Sunrise Strategic Partners, a $200+ million venture fund based in Boulder, CO that provided growth capital and operating expertise to emerging brands in the consumer products space.   Steve worked with founders and management teams across ten portfolio companies to scale their businesses, including the IPO of Vital Farms.  In doing so, he helped to advance their missions across essential opportunities like organic acreage conversion, non-GMO, and grass-fed/pasture-raised.

Steve had a successful general management career at General Mills, leading businesses across all segments including cereal, snacks, yogurt and baking.  He also served as leader of General Mills’ broader $800+ billion portfolio of natural/organic brands, including the Annie’s acquisition, a pioneering organic food company that General Mills acquired in 2014. In addition, Steve spent five years working abroad with Cereal Partners Worldwide, General Mills’ joint venture with Nestle, in Australia and Switzerland, where he led Global Marketing.

Steve lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife, Denise, and their six kids ranging in ages from 12 to 22 (cue the “Brady Bunch” theme song).  He is an avid cyclist, hiker and loves the outdoors – from the lakes of Northern Minnesota to the mountains and ski slopes in his original home state of Montana.  Steve holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Montana and an MBA from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA.

Sylvio has more than 25 years of international experience in the food and agriculture sectors. Prior to joining Manna Tree, he held operations and business development roles with Cargill and Syngenta and was a Managing Director at Wheatsheaf Group (Grosvenor), where he oversaw the North America Food and AgTech portfolio. Sylvio founded his own consulting company, Green Prairie Consulting, to advise investors and start-ups in the food and agriculture sectors. He was also a member of the Kirchner Group, where he advised global, innovative food companies.

Sylvio serves as a mentor for innovative start-up companies such as TechStars “Farm to Fork” Accelerator and Plug and Play Agriculture Technology.

Sylvio has a Bachelor’s Degree in Agronomic Engineering from the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

As part of a third generation of family farmers in Brazil, Sylvio was fortunate to have grown up with the freshest possible food. He believes that everyone should have convenient access to healthy food that is produced through sustainable and regenerative practices. As a member of Manna Tree’s Investments Team, Sylvio works very close to the portfolio companies to support portfolio value creation. He serves on the board of Manna Tree portfolio company Good Culture.

Sylvio lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two teenage boys. He and his family enjoy exploring the outdoors together, either fishing and kayaking on the lakes, or out on the golf course.

As Manna Tree’s vice president of finance, Katie provides strategic direction to help maximize the firm’s growth and enhance its financial position.

Katie is a firm believer that health and wellness begin at the most elemental level. By making more conscientious choices when selecting foods, choosing to walk or bike instead of drive, and serving as a healthy role model for the next generation, she strives to make meaningful improvements to her own health and the health of others.

Prior to joining Manna Tree, Katie helped grow the private equity team at MG Stover, a leading fund administrator. It was there that she discovered her passion for helping emerging fund managers launch products and solve problems. Katie’s past experience also includes working at Equity Group Investments, a private investment firm. She began her career at Deloitte in Chicago.

Katie has an undergraduate degree in accounting as well as her Master of Business Administration from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Katie lives in Denver with her husband, two daughters and dog. She enjoys backpacking, traveling, hiking, skiing, cooking and sharing a drink with friends. Because she believes the best days are those that leave her both mentally and physically challenged, she can often be found in pursuit of endorphins, whether from skydiving or hiking the Highlands Bowl.

Carley spent her formative years in Kansas, where she learned to appreciate being outdoors while hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and exploring the Flint Hills region. She found that her experiences outdoors fostered a respect for the resources nature provides and recognized how it created deeper relationships–not just with the outdoors, but also with individuals, the community, and her spirituality.

After earning her BBA in Finance and Accounting from Texas Christian University, Carley earned her Master of Accounting at TCU, with a concentration in valuation and financial reporting. Before joining Manna Tree, Carley was a senior associate with KPMG in their Dallas, Texas Deal Advisory practice. She has also been a Certified Public Accountant for four years.

Energized by the mission of Manna Tree, Carley joined the team in 2019. She believes that the source and quality of food contribute significantly to a person’s overall health and well being and that investing in a high-quality life creates an opportunity for the highest quality output. She finds her love of nature and her education and expertise in finance truly intersecting with her work at Manna Tree, where she collaborates with the team to identify, execute, and manage investment opportunities and work with current portfolio companies.

Carley currently lives in Colorado and is excited to bring her love of the natural world and outdoor activities to the mountains. So far, her favorite location to hike in Colorado is the Pitkin Lake Trail, but she is always exploring for more adventures.

An active lifestyle fueled by nutritious food and time outdoors is not a choice for Lindsay, it is in her DNA. She attributes her acute awareness of food source and quality to her early years spent gardening and raising cattle. Her love for winter and snow sports is rooted in her native state of Minnesota but ultimately led her to Colorado. With over ten years of operational, strategic, and investor relations experience, she has paired her pursuits of mountain life, clean nutrition, and investments on the Manna Tree team as Associate, Operations.

Ms. Nistler has a BS from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an MBA from the University of Colorado. She has honed her finance, private equity, and relationship management orientation working at Fast Enterprises, MG Stover & Co and Baceline Group. Lindsay’s go-to approach is building authentic relationships and anticipating investor’s needs.

In her free time, Lindsay enjoys time spent outdoors with friends and family. Living her fullest life in Colorado also includes cooking with friends, training her bird dog (a black lab named Lou), and of course, skiing as much as possible.

Elliot is an Associate at Manna Tree, where his responsibilities include evaluating, executing, and monitoring investment opportunities for the fund. As part of the Manna Tree team, Elliot has the opportunity to combine his financial experience with his passion for helping others live better, healthier lives. Prior to joining the firm, Elliot was an investment banking analyst at Fidus Partners.

Elliot graduated magna cum laude from Elon University with bachelors’ degrees in finance and accounting.While in college, he was nominated to be a Periclean Scholar and selected to participate in the CFA Institute Research Challenge.

Elliot believes serving others is the key to a meaningful life and has been passionate about philanthropy since he was young. Elliot most recently served as a board member at Roots & Branches through Rose Foundation, a philanthropic cohort committed to granting $50,000 to non-profits in the Greater Denver community. He has also traveled and lived in a community in Zambia, where Elliot implemented women’s health and financial literacy programs, and Bolivia, where he built and installed water filters in a rural village community along the Amazon river.

As a fifth-generation Colorado native, Elliot appreciates all of the state’s outdoor activities, including skiing, hiking, and running. He especially loves the Maroon Bells and the peak of any other 14er.

As Manna Tree’s marketing manager, Allison is committed to breathing new life into the firm’s events and marketing initiatives. She joined the firm in 2021, drawn to the team’s energy and mission to improve human health.

Before joining Manna Tree, Allison founded and managed her own marketing and events consultancy firm, supporting small business owners in the Vail Valley. Prior to trading skyscrapers for mountains in 2018, she worked at a marketing agency in Chicago.

Allison graduated from Columbia College Chicago with degrees in photojournalism and advertising. She studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain, where she explored the world of international business and brand identity.

Originally hailing from the hearty Midwest, Allison dreamed of expanding her world beyond the cornfields, seeking adventure and skipping the butter. At a young age, she discovered her passion for photography and set her sights on art school in the bustling streets of Chicago. Allison has always been drawn to an active lifestyle, playing soccer and coaching swim. Outside of the office, she loves to hit the slopes, hike 14ers, mountain bike and river surf.

Emily believes a life well lived starts with the community and how well individuals can work together. She has a unique background in the dairy and beef industries and loves to show a cow as much as she likes a hike. Her love of agriculture started with her experiences growing up on a farm in southwest Wisconsin.

Emily has been very focused on a career in agriculture since her college years when she pursued a double major in Dairy Science and Agribusiness at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. She received her Masters of Science in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University and an MBA from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University.

Before Manna Tree, she joined ABS Global Inc. as a Genetic Management Systems (GMS) Processing Manager for the Dairy Genetic Services department. During her time at ABS, Emily had the opportunity to travel the world to work with ABS sales representatives, distributors, and customers, training them on the GMS program’s technical aspects. She was also the Business Lead for the $700K Genetic Services software rewrite project to update, improve, and expand upon genetic improvement tools.

As an Executive Assistant at Manna Tree, Makayla supports the firm’s CIO and President, and also assists the Managing Director of Operations with external vendor oversight and internal employee development initiatives. 

Prior to joining Manna Tree, Makayla managed the custom sales department at SYNC Performance, a snow sports apparel provider. There, she provided personalized account management and customer service to over one hundred clients. Before SYNC, Makayla worked as an Executive Assistant at IDEXX Laboratories, where she helped support the Chairman and CEO.

Makayla holds her Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Colby College.

Growing up, Makayla spent the majority of her time competitively alpine ski racing in the mountains of Maine. As a trained ski racer, she gained a love for the outdoors, and learned the importance of nutrition and fitness at an early age. These priorities have carried over into her adult life, as she remains active and committed to fueling herself with whole-food, plant-based nutrition.

In her free time, Makayla continues to enjoy skiing, as well as running, mountain biking, cooking and spending as much time as possible with family and friends.