Dilworth Trust chair Aaron Snodgrass says he won’t seek re-election.

Old boys were sent an email about his decision this morning, and one has already welcomed the decision.

The Dilworth Trust Board is expected to apologise to the school community at a March 1 event for decades of abuse.

“I will continue as a Dilworth Trustee to support a positive leadership transition,” Snodgrass said in the email.

“This is a personal decision for me arising from a new phase in my professional career,” he added.

“I have also recently moved with my family to Auckland and want to spend more time with them after nearly seven years as trust chair.”

The trust said Dilworth trustee Jonathan Mason agreed to seek election as chair at the AGM.

Dilworth survivor Neil Harding said the announcement was a chance for Dilworth to make meaningful change.

He said more than a year after an independent inquiry, there had been no change in the governance structure.

“There has been no collaboration with survivors, so it’s now an opportunity for the Trust Board to reconsider those efforts,” he told the Herald.

“I welcome this news.”

The Dilworth independent inquiry report in September 2023 recommended the trust board be reformed and revitalised.

It said the board had a model devised in 1897 with the objective of growing and managing the financial resources of a trust so a boarding school for boys could be developed and supported.

“Managing financial assets and income remains an important duty for the board, but it needs other skills and resources to manage a school,” the inquiry report added.

Snodgrass said he was sharing his decision so people were informed on the trust’s future governance.

“Our upcoming annual meeting marks a natural and appropriate transition point in our Dilworth Response programme to make this change.”

The AGM is scheduled for the end of April.

The board said Mason was one of New Zealand’s most respected and accomplished independent directors.

“He serves on the board of Zespri, is a trustee of WWF-NZ and the University of Auckland Endowment Fund, a member of the University Council for the University of Auckland and is chair of the NZUS Council and the Institute of Directors’ Auckland Branch.”

The trust said it was also recruiting for two new trustees, whom it hoped to appoint this year.