Julia is a sustainability and governance specialist based in Mid Wales, working to support organisations to scale responsibly and purposefully through her consultancy, Optiroute. Julia holds a law degree and an MBA with a specialisation in environmental and social sustainability from Warwick Business School.

Having worked in clean energy in Mid Wales for some years, she had long been aware of the good work carried out at CAT, but it was through attending a short course in early 2026 that she was afforded the opportunity to see this first hand. The history, purpose and communal heritage of CAT left an indelible impression, culminating in her applying to be a trustee a few months later.

Before founding Optiroute, Julia worked at Riversimple for eight years as legal and commercial manager at a sustainable car company with multi-stakeholder governance and a circular business model. It was here that she designed and led Circular Revolution, Wales’ first circular economy innovation centre, a multi-million-pound multi-disciplinary programme part-funded by the EU and supported by Swansea University and the University of Exeter.

Julia has worked across many industries (manufacturing, real estate, financial services, etc) and in different countries, but the golden thread has been supporting and implementing positive organisational change.

Julia is a passionate advocate of what she calls ‘intentional governance’, that is systems-level design and development across the whole governance landscape to embed purpose and meaningful (as opposed to performative) sustainability into the bones of an organisation. A skill set she is excited to put to good use at CAT.