UPDATE 1-Cigna names Cordani as CEO

* Roles of CEO, chairman to be split

* Hanway to retire at year-end

LOS ANGELES, June 24 (Reuters) - Health insurer Cigna Corp (CI.N) on Wednesday said it will separate the roles of chief executive and chairman and has named Chief Operating Officer David Cordani to replace retiring CEO H. Edward Hanway, effective in January.

Cigna said Isaiah Harris, an independent director of the company, will assume the role of nonexecutive chairman, also starting January 1, 2010.

The company said Hanway, 57, will retire from the posts of CEO and chairman at the end of the year.

Cigna said last month that Chief Financial Officer Mike Bell was leaving his post after 25 years at the health insurer. His departure came about a year after the announcement of Cordani, 43, as Cigna's chief operating officer -- a move widely seen as positioning Cordani as the top internal candidate to be the next CEO.

Cordani has served as president and chief operating officer of the insurer since June 2008.

Harris, 56, has been a director of the company since 2005.

Shares of Cigna, which dipped 17 cents to close at $23.71 on the New York Stock Exchange, were unchanged after hours. (Reporting by Deena Beasley: editing by Carol Bishopric)