MARK Hodges, who steered the former Norwich Union Life at York through troubled waters before rising through the ranks of the now-rebranded parent company, Aviva, is leaving the insurance and pensions giant.

He resigned today to join Towergate Insurance as its group chief executive.

The 46-year-old who oversaw the axing of 450 roles at York as part of a package of 4,000 cuts in the UK, then went on to become chief executive of Aviva UK Life and later chief executive of the whole UK region.

He will be succeeded as UK chief executive and Aviva board member by Trevor Matthews, subject to the approval of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Mr Matthews is currently vice chairman of Friends Life and was previously chief executive of Standard Life's UK life and pensions business.

He has also been a managing director of Legal and General in Australia and is the incumbent chairman of the Financial Skills Partnership in theUK.

Andrew Moss, Aviva's group chief executive, said: "After a successful career at Aviva, I am very sorry to see Mark leave, but we understand that he wishes to take on a different challenge at this stage in his career. We wish him well in his new position."

Mr Moss described Mr Matthews as having "an outstanding record of achievement in insurance globally and will be a strong addition to our leadership team".

The announcement comes hot on the heels of all-change, this time at York, with David Barral promoted from chief operating officer to chief executive of Aviva Life, and boss to almost 3,000 people in the city. The outgoing chief executive, Toby Strauss, left last month after three years to take up a new role with Lloyds Banking Group.