Innocent has promoted its grocery controller Ben Greensmith to commercial director.
Greensmith steps into the role recently vacated by Dave Pickup, who last month was named UK MD as part of a management reshuffle prompted by co-founders Adam Balon, Richard Reed and Jon Wright revealing they were stepping down from day-to-day responsibility after selling a majority stake to Coca-Cola.
Greensmith joined Innocent in 2007 from Unilever, initially holding commercial manager roles for Somerfield, Morrisons and Tesco.
Since 2010, he has led the grocery channel as sales controller with responsibility for Innocent’s successful juice launch to the trade.
At Unilever, he was business development manager for Somerfield and The Co-op Group.
“Reporting to the new UK managing director, Dave Pickup, Ben will be responsible for our business across all customers,” an Innocent spokeswoman said.
Last month’s management reshuffle saw marketing and innovation director Doug Lamont take on the new role of CEO and business planning director Charles Carter become European MD. Supply chain director Steve Spall also took on additional responsibility as group operations director.
Commenting on the new changes, Reed said: “The structure is now a better structure with a wider range of talents.”
Innocent recently ranked 25th in The Grocer’s Britain’s Biggest Brands, up from 34th the year before. It increased sales by 36.3% last year to £213.5m.
