Former news editor of the Sunday Business Post Ms Aileen O'Toole has resigned as managing director of the online advertising agency, ICAN, two weeks after accepting the position.

Her decision follows the completion of a strategic review of the business which she conducted with senior ICAN management. This concluded that a new corporate strategy should be defined for the business.

In a statement last night, Ms O'Toole said she resigned because the "likely role" she would have in the redefined business would be very different to that she had envisaged when joining.

Neither Ms O'Toole nor the company would disclose details of the strategic review or the role Ms O'Toole would have taken in the company.

A spokeswoman for ICAN said details of the new corporate strategy would be announced soon. She denied the company was in financial trouble.

In August Mr Damien Ryan, founder and chief executive of ICAN, resigned to set up a digital media consultancy. He still retains a 20 per cent stake in the business following the purchase of an 80 per cent stake by entrepreneurs, Mr Denis O'Brien and Mr Leslie Buckley, in November 1999.