Fledgling popcorn brand Propercorn has poached Innocent’s UK commercial director Ben Greensmith.

Greensmith, who has worked at the smoothie giant for eight years, joins Propercorn in June in the newly created role of commercial director.

He joined Innocent in April 2007 as commercial manager for Somerfield and subsequently was promoted to commercial manager for Tesco, then out of home sales controller and grocery controller, before being made commercial director in May 2013. He was also responsible for Innocent’s juice launch.

Prior to Innocent, he was business development manager for Somerfield and The Co-op Group at Unilever.

Greensmith joins Propercorn at a time when the brand is forecasting huge growth. It recorded a turnover of nearly £6m in 2014 and is aiming for sales of £15m this year.

He said: “The vision of the co-founders and enormous potential for growth are what attracted me to Propercorn. 2015 is set to be a big year for the brand and I am very much looking forward to being a part of this.”

Propercorn co-founder Ryan Kohn added: “We are in a period of significant growth at Propercorn and are hugely excited to welcome Ben and his fmcg experience to the team. Not only does he offer a wealth of knowledge in our industry, he will also be a great addition to our five-a-side football team.”

Innocent said it had started the search for Greensmith’s replacement.

“Ben has been a much-valued member of our commercial team over the past eight years,” said Innocent UK managing director Nick Canney.

“We will miss him at Fruit Towers, but are delighted that Innocent continues to develop ­people with a keen entrepreneurial spirit.”

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