Leading privacy with care: meet Jess Ludgate
23 June 2026
When teachers, learners and whānau share their most sensitive moments, that information doesn’t just sit in a system - it’s carefully held and protected by people across Matatū Aotearoa.
For Jess Ludgate, that responsibility sits at the heart of her role as Lead Advisor, Privacy, Government and Information - supporting others across the Teaching Council to handle information with care, respect, and integrity.
Jess didn’t set out to work in privacy. When she first joined the Council in 2022 as an Executive Assistant, she didn’t know her current role existed.
“I almost didn’t go for it,” she says. “It felt quite scary to go into a role where I didn’t know anything.”
Encouraged by leaders who saw her strengths in writing and problem-solving, Jess stepped into a six-month secondment. Four and a half years later, she is still driven by the purpose of the work and has made it her own.
“Personal information tells us about a person’s life story,” she explains. “And particularly at the Teaching Council, there are times where we’re holding information about an emotional or sensitive time in a person’s life, especially in the professional responsibility space.”
That information can relate to teachers, learners, whānau, and wider communities - often during moments that are complex, difficult, or deeply personal.
“There’s a whole range of people that we can hold information about. And it’s important to remember it’s not just another case or another application,” Jess says. “There’s an actual person on the other side of that information - and there’s a chance they could be harmed if we’re not looking after it properly.”
The way that information is handled plays an important role in supporting the wider work to protect children and uphold trust in the profession.
“If teachers and whānau didn’t trust that we were going to look after their information, we wouldn’t be able to do our job,” she says. “People would stop sharing information, and that would impact our ability to investigate or support safe outcomes.”
While legislation like the Privacy Act and Official Information Act underpin the work, Jess says the real impact comes from how people across the organisation engage with it every day.
“I think the most important thing is actually the relationships,” she says. “It’s about being someone that staff feel comfortable coming to - whether they’ve got a question, a concern, or even if they think they’ve made a mistake.”
That openness helps build a culture where privacy isn’t just a set of rules, but something people actively think about and talk about.
“You can always find the answer,” she says. “But what really matters is that people feel safe to ask, and that they know when something needs to be checked. It’s about connection, not forcing knowledge.”
Jess’s work spans the entire organisation and beyond - from supporting internal teams to manage information requests and working with partner agencies like the NZ Police, Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Education.
“There’s probably no typical day,” she says. “It depends on what’s coming in - OIA requests, privacy questions, information-sharing requests. There’s always something that needs attention.”
That breadth gives her a unique view and a strong understanding of how different parts of the organisation work together.
“I love that I get to work across the Teaching Council,” she says. “You start to understand what each team does, their challenges, and how everything fits together.”
The work can be fast-paced and, at times, intense. But Jess says she stays grounded by the bigger picture.
“When it feels a bit overwhelming, I remind myself why this work matters,” she says. “The fact that people in New Zealand have the right to access information, and the right to privacy - those are really important parts of a healthy democracy.”
“And in our space, it’s also about protecting people - making sure that sensitive information is handled with care, and that the profession can have confidence in how we work.”
Much of that work happens behind the scenes, but its impact is far-reaching.
By supporting others to handle information responsibly, Jess plays a key role in helping ensure people can do their jobs protecting learners, supporting teachers, and maintaining trust across the profession.
“It’s about respect,” she says. “Treating information with the care it deserves - because it represents real people and real experiences.”
