NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lee Shavel, chief financial officer of Nasdaq Inc (>> Nasdaq Inc) is leaving the transatlantic exchange operator as of March 31 and is joining the board of directors of brokerage Investment Technology Group (>> Investment Technology Group), the companies said on Thursday.

Ron Hassen, Nasdaq's corporate controller, will serve as interim CFO, as the Nasdaq conducts an active search to fill the role, the company said in a statement.

Shavel joins ITG as the firm moves to new leadership following a trading scandal and pressure from two activist funds, which had been agitating for changes at the brokerage.

"He is well respected in our industry for his acumen as a public company CFO and has served as a trusted advisor in a number of landmark financial technology transactions," ITG Chairman Minder Cheng said in a statement.

Its longtime chairwoman, Maureen O'Hara, and another board member recently stepped down from the board.

The move came after shareholders Voce Capital and Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco, acting as a group, ramped up pressure on ITG early last year and nominated a slate of three directors for the board ahead of its annual meeting.

ITG and the activists reached an agreement in April, with the company adding a dissident director to the board,

former E*Trade Financial Corp (>> E*TRADE Financial Corp) executive Jarrett Lilien.

The firm also has a new chief executive officer, Frank Troise, who started on Jan. 15.

ITG fired its previous CEO, Bob Gasser, in August after agreeing to pay $20.3 million to regulators to settle charges it ran a secret trading desk that profited off of confidential customer information within its "dark pool" in 2010.

(Reporting by John McCrank; Editing by W Simon and Bernard Orr)