Meet the Team

Meet Marilyn Charlton

Marilyn is a fractional Chief Human Resources Officer who steps in when growth has outpaced structure especially when leveling, compensation, and promotions have become inconsistent, subjective, or handled case by case. With 25+ years of senior HR leadership in high-growth and founder-led companies, she specializes in building career architecture that managers can actually use and internal HR teams can run.

Marilyn partners with CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and founders to design and implement career frameworks that protect EBITDA: clear levels, disciplined compensation alignment, functional playbooks, and promotion paths that reduce title inflation, comp drift, and regretted attrition. Her work turns talent decisions from improvisation into operating system, so payroll is forecastable, retention is intentional, and growth doesn’t create chaos.

This isn’t a deck and disappear exercise. Marilyn delivers end-to-end implementation alongside existing HR teams, including manager training and rollout support so the system sticks across functions, not just in HR documentation.

Compliance remains part of the foundation (classification, multi-jurisdiction basics, and policy hygiene), but the focus is pragmatic: build structure that prevents the expensive problems before they show up in turnover, compensation sprawl, or stalled teams.

Based in North America and working globally, Marilyn brings a calm, direct style: protect the business, respect the humans, and make decisions operational, not emotional.

When she isn’t working, she’s traveling, writing, or walking her dog, Liam.