The first female chairman of the BBC Trust Rona Fairhead is to step aside after two years in the role, the organisation has confirmed.
Ms Fairhead said she decided to quit rather than take part in the process to become the chair of the new board - which will replace the BBC Trust early next year.
In a statement she said: "The Prime Minister strongly encouraged me to take part in the new appointment process, for what would be a new four year term as BBC chairman.
"However, after much thought I have come to the conclusion that I should not do so.
"It is my belief that it will be better to have a clean break and for the Government to appoint someone new, and for me to continue my career in the private sector as I had always planned to do after my existing term ended in 2018."
Ms Fairhead has held the role since October 2014.
In May, following the publication of the BBC White Paper, she was asked to continue in the role for four more years by David Cameron's government.
She will remain in the role until someone is appointed chair of the new board, which will replace the trust.
Upon her resignation BBC director-general Tony Hall said she had made a "real contribution to the BBC and at a really important time".
He added: "On behalf of all the staff, I'd like to thank her for that and wish her the very best for the future. We will continue to work together in the interests of licence fee payers until the new governance arrangements are in place."
Announcing her resignation, Ms Fairhead said: "I took on leadership of the Trust to help stabilise, strengthen and develop the BBC following a very difficult period in its history and through charter review.
"I was always clear that I was willing to serve for four years, after which I would continue my career in the private sector.
"I am proud of what I and my colleagues, both at the Trust and the BBC, have accomplished during the past two years. I believe the draft charter will secure the strong, confident and independent BBC that the public want and deserve.
"The BBC is a wonderful organisation and I have huge confidence in its future. I wish the new chairman, the board and everyone at the BBC every success.
"The Government and the BBC will have my full support in transitioning to the new governance arrangements to ensure the BBC remains the bold, creative institution that is loved and admired by so many."
Ms Fairhead was chief executive and chairman of the Financial Times Group between 2006 and 2013 and has also held senior roles in financial and global business.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "The Government thanks Rona Fairhead for her service to the BBC.
"Full details of the BBC charter will be announced shortly."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here