Currently in his 26th season with the Vikings in 2024, Steve Poppen serves as the team's executive vice president & chief business administration officer after serving as the club's EVP and chief financial officer for many years. In his role, Poppen continues to work with the accounting and finance, security, facilities and IT departments along with financing and operations of U.S. Bank Stadium and Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center. Poppen also serves as an EVP and CFO of MV Ventures, LLC, the Wilf Family's Minnesota real estate development and operations entity. MV Ventures is responsible for development and operations of the Viking Lakes campus in Eagan. Poppen also serves on the executive board of the Orlando City and Orlando Pride soccer clubs. Orlando City Soccer Club and Orlando Pride are Wilf owned professional soccer teams and are members of Major League Soccer and the National Women's Soccer League.
As a project leader on the TCO Performance Center facility, Poppen was involved daily with financing, design, construction and cooperation with city, county and regional governing bodies that kept the project on track.
For several years Poppen played a lead role in the Vikings attempts to pass new stadium legislation, an exhaustive effort that culminated with Governor Mark Dayton signing the stadium bill into law on May 14, 2012. After passage of the stadium legislation, Poppen continued to serve on the Vikings stadium team, working with the design and construction process and was part of the executive group that negotiated the team's use agreement and development agreement, as well as other documents governing the construction and day to day operations of the new publicly-owned facility. Poppen also oversaw the Vikings efforts to finance the over $600 million team/private commitment to the project. In 2013, he helped secure $425 million in loans from the NFL and a bank syndicate led by U.S. Bank as part of the team contribution.
The passage of the stadium bill not only secured the team in Minnesota but also gave Vikings fans a premier venue to watch their team beginning in the 2016 NFL season. Along with Vikings football, the multi-purpose facility hosted Super Bowl LII in February 2018, the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in April 2019, and has been designed to host other national and international events, including concerts, high school and amateur sports and other community events.
U.S. Bank Stadium is an elite venue and unrivaled experience in the NFL. The design features for which the Vikings fought include the most fan-friendly and most technologically-advanced stadium in the League. It provides an indoor-outdoor experience that is ideal for the Greater Minneapolis/St. Paul market. The progressive architectural design is a signature element on the Minneapolis skyline.
A native of Watertown, S.D., Poppen spent eight years as a certified public accountant in the business assurance group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Kansas City before joining the Vikings. In 2006, Poppen participated in the NFL-Stanford Program for Managers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a program developed by the NFL to promote growth of leaders within the League.
Poppen received his bachelor's degree in accounting from Evangel University in Springfield, Mo., where he played football as an NAIA member of the Heart of America Athletic Conference. He is an active member of his community and has served on several boards and committees that have missions in alignment with his values and interests. Poppen's past board service includes Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, where he served on its Lending, Finance and Development Committees, Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge, a faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation program for Minnesota adults and teens, Minneapolis Downtown Council and Downtown Improvement District, and the Minnesota State Fair Foundation. Poppen also served as co-chair of the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity's Hard Hat & Black Tie Annual Gala in 2023 and 2024. Poppen currently serves as the treasurer of the Minnesota Vikings Foundation and as an Independent Trustee of the 360 Funds Trust, a mutual fund investment trust based in Kansas City, Mo.
Poppen and his wife, Christy, who holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Evangel, have four children – Natalie (Grant), Andrew (Kami), Nathan (Sheridyn) and Avery. Steve and Christy are also grandparents to grandson Nick and granddaughter Lucy. The Poppen family resides in Eden Prairie
