DeAnn is a seasoned expert in finance, risk management and governance who is passionate about advancing the food system with rapid growth strategies.

DeAnn Brunts is the Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors at Benson Hill. She is a public company director serving as Chairman of the Audit Committee and member of the Nominating and Governance and Risk Management Committees for B&G Foods (BGS). She is also currently a board member and member of the Audit Committee for the Kempe Foundation and has also served as a director and audit committee chair on two not-for-profit boards.

DeAnn is a seasoned expert in risk management and governance with over 20 years of experience in financial, operational and executive leadership roles in publicly traded companies, later specializing in private equity backed companies looking to grow portfolio businesses through acquisition and organic growth. DeAnn’s industry experience includes retail, distribution, consumer goods (food) manufacturing, and professional and technology services.

Prior to her executive roles she was a Mergers & Acquisitions and Audit partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers where she ran large engagements in acquisitions and joint ventures (Anheuser-Busch), carve out/public offerings (Earth Grains from Anheuser-Busch and Vlasic from Campbell) and co-founded the rollup IPO practice for the firm. As a partner she was on the Price Waterhouse Chairman’s team for the due diligence and execution of the merger with Coopers and Lybrand in 1998.

She received an MBA in Finance and Operations Management from The Wharton School and BSBA in Accounting from the University of Missouri in St. Louis.