From Materials Engineer to MD – Strategy, Innovation and Employee Ownership with Deborah Creamer of Optimat

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Deborah Creamer, Managing Director of Optimat, a strategy and innovation consultancy based in Glasgow.

Optimat helps public sector bodies, universities and technology-based SMEs make better decisions about markets, technology and investment. The team all come from technical backgrounds – materials engineering, biotechnology, mechanical engineering, sustainability and environmental science – and they combine that expertise with rigorous research, stakeholder engagement and analysis to answer clients’ most important “what next?” questions.

Deborah explains how Optimat’s work ranges from sector-wide strategies and market opportunity studies to supporting spinouts and start-ups with business plans and market entry strategies. She shares examples from across digital health, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and net zero – including a favourite project evaluating an innovative medical device for thrombectomy after stroke, where she could really geek out on materials.

We then trace Deborah’s own journey: from materials engineer in an electronics company, to consultant at Optimat, to senior consultant and director, and now managing director after 27 years with the business. She talks about being made redundant from a US-headquartered company that decided to service Europe from America, and how a professional connection through her chartered engineer application opened the door to Optimat.

A big part of the conversation centres on employee ownership. Deborah explains why the founders chose to move Optimat into employee ownership rather than a traditional management buy-out or trade sale, and how the Optimat Trust bought the company from the directors as part of a long-term succession plan. She shares what it looks like in practice: transparent finances, shared decision-making on big strategic issues, a deliberately flat structure and a culture where everyone is encouraged to bring ideas, spot opportunities and shape the future.

We also talk about retaining great people. Optimat has remarkably low turnover – several team members have been there 15–20+ years – and Deborah puts that down to three things: genuinely interesting, varied work; hiring carefully for culture fit; and creating a supportive environment where graduates work alongside senior people and learn fast. She is honest about the one time it didn’t work out, and how both sides agreed the type of work just wasn’t the right fit.

Deborah then looks ahead at the business challenges and opportunities she sees as MD: pressure on public sector budgets, the need to diversify the client base across the UK and Europe, the shift from nanotechnology to digital, data and net zero, and the importance of continually updating skills and services.

We finish with a thoughtful discussion on AI and women in leadership. Deborah shares how Optimat uses AI tools internally to summarise long reports and speed up analysis, while being very cautious about hallucinations and always keeping human judgment at the centre. She also talks about a new service they’re developing to help clients understand what AI means for their business, where the risks are and where the opportunities lie.

For women considering leadership or entrepreneurship, Deborah’s message is clear: don’t assume you can’t do it, ask for help when you need it, and remember that imposter feelings are common – but they don’t mean you’re not capable.

In this episode, we cover

1. What Optimat does as a strategy and innovation consultancy for public sector, research organisations and technology SMEs
2. The team’s strong technical background and how they use research, market analysis and stakeholder engagement to build evidence for decisions
3. Deborah’s journey from materials engineer to consultant, director and ultimately managing director
4. How and why Optimat became employee owned, and what that means for succession and culture
5. The benefits of a flat structure, transparency and involving everyone in big decisions
6. Attracting and retaining talent: interesting work, careful recruitment and a genuinely supportive culture
7. The company’s evolution over time: from materials consultancy to wider economic development, sector strategies and technology roadmapping
8. Shifts in technology focus – from nanotechnology to digital, data and net zero – and how Optimat has adapted
9. Current business challenges: public sector budget constraints and the need to diversify into more UK-wide, European and private sector work
10. How Optimat uses AI internally for efficiency, and why client-facing outputs are still very much human-crafted
11. A new service helping clients understand the risks and opportunities of AI in their own organisations
12. Deborah’s advice for women considering leadership or starting a business:
13. Don’t assume it’s beyond you – you probably can do it
14. You can’t know or do everything, so don’t be afraid to ask for help
15. What she’s learned about herself: moving through imposter syndrome to the realisation that she is good at what she does and is as capable as anyone else
16. Her advice to her 18-year-old self: don’t get hung up on a rigid career plan – go with the flow and stay open to opportunities