Our People

“When you cut out all the BS, it’s my job to support clients through murky employee issues and help them to understand the balance of employee care and the commercial needs of the business.”

Susan Sadler is the driving force behind Red Wagon – a trusted guide for organisations navigating complex and high-stakes workplace challenges. With over two decades of experience in senior human resources and industrial relations, she brings strategic clarity, calm confidence, and a reputation for getting the hard stuff done.

Before founding Red Wagon, Susan worked across diverse sectors leading teams through investigations, underpayment remediation, restructures, union negotiations, and executive transitions. She partners with HR leaders and executive teams to deliver outcomes that are practical, high-trust, and reputationally safe.

Susan launched Red Wagon to do things differently: smart, nimble, high-integrity consulting that’s equal parts brains and heart. She’s also the creator of HR Decoded, a flagship annual event for senior HR leaders, and is building HR LeaderLab, a peer community helping HR professionals lift their impact and stay future-fit.

At Red Wagon, she leads strategy and client partnerships, guides high-risk engagements, and mentors the team with a sharp mind and generous spirit.

When she’s not deep in strategy or coaching executives, you’ll find her building clever systems in ChatGPT, embracing her inner soccer mum, or belting out karaoke with her kids.

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Janine Muirhead is a detail-focused strategist who takes complex problems and transforms them into structured, sustainable design. With a sharp eye for policy, process, and people experience, she brings clarity and direction to every engagement.

Janine doesn’t just build systems – she helps people use them. She coaches leaders on implementing HR policy and process, guides performance management with a steady, practical hand, and ensures that the human side of HR never gets lost in the paperwork.

Before joining Red Wagon, she held senior HR and project leadership roles in fast-paced, complex environments including aviation and professional services. She’s known for delivering change that sticks – and for making even the most painful processes feel manageable.

At Red Wagon, she leads organisation design, policy review, and systems development – helping HR teams move from reactive firefighting to confident, future-ready practice.

When she’s not mapping out new ways of working, you’ll find her project planning birthdays and Christmas with military-level precision.

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Michael Brown is Red Wagon’s heavyweight in industrial relations – the strategic negotiator who can see both the high-stakes landscape and the fine print. When unions, bargaining rounds, or IR complexity enter the picture, Michael is the one you want steering the outcome.

He specialises in IR strategy, enterprise bargaining, union negotiations, and contract bids where labour models, industrial risk, and delivery confidence need to be sharp, credible, and grounded. His approach is pragmatic but principled: focused on sustainable outcomes that hold under scrutiny and pressure.

Before joining Red Wagon, Michael led IR strategy across sectors where industrial complexity wasn’t just a problem to manage – it was a core business risk. He has advised on high-stakes negotiations, disruptive change, and enterprise-wide IR frameworks.

At Red Wagon, he partners with clients to shape IR policy, guide strategic bargaining, lead industrial workstreams for bids, and design frameworks that embed outcomes well beyond the deal.

When he’s not drafting collective agreement schedules or refining bid strategy, you’ll find him enjoying a fine vintage and planning what’s next.

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Elysia De Maria is the operational powerhouse behind many of Red Wagon’s sharpest systems and clearest outputs. From policy drafting and performance frameworks to legislative interpretation and tech configuration, she connects the dots others miss – and does it all with faultless formatting and flawless grammar.

With a background in HR operations, compliance, and workforce systems, Ely is known for delivering clean, clear outcomes with speed and style. She’s the quiet achiever who keeps projects moving – detail-aligned, people-smart, and on point.

At Red Wagon, she brings structure to compliance work, supports investigations, and co-pilots process improvements with thoughtful precision.

When she’s not wrangling templates or elevating advice, you’ll find her devouring a new book or acing her next uni assignment.

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Carla Doherty is the steady hand every workplace needs – practical, unflappable, and quietly exceptional. With strong foundations in HR and IR, she’s the go-to for complex cases, under-the-hood reviews, and people projects that need a full sweep and a clear plan.

She loves the challenge of a good investigation and can craft a succession plan that people actually follow. Carla delivers with total reliability – and always includes the things you didn’t realise you’d forgotten.

At Red Wagon, she supports investigations, workforce planning, and performance frameworks with a grounded, no-fuss approach that gets results – without the drama.

When she’s not delivering Red Wagon gold, you’ll find her planning her next holiday or being creative with paper, paint or pencil.

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Naomi Liddell brings over 30 years’ experience across HR and industrial relations, and a reputation for calm clarity when the stakes are high. She’s known for delivering people-smart, commercially sound solutions grounded in deep technical skill.

At Red Wagon, Naomi focuses on HR and IR strategy, leadership coaching and development, organisational design, and restructuring – with deep expertise in investigations and complex case management. She’s trusted for her insight, steadiness, and ability to give advice that lands cleanly under pressure.

Before Red Wagon, she led internal HR teams through growth and transformation in large, complex settings. She understands the realities of enterprise-scale decision-making and brings advice that’s as usable as it is strategic.

When she’s not guiding clients through workplace flashpoints, you’ll find her training for her next marathon or lunching with friends – always moving, always connecting.

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