Executive Leadership

A highly respected leader and industry pioneer, Dan Plashkes helped invent the contact center outsourcing business in 1986 when he founded his first call center company, SP Data, when he was only 26 years old.  Over the next 25 years, Plashkes earned his graduate degree the old fashioned way – at the school of hard knocks - because no one goes to Harvard or Yale to get a degree in call center operations. 

Plashkes reclaimed the SP Data brand when he co-founded SP Data in 2005 and has spearheaded the company, growing it into an industry leader.  Plashkes provides the unstoppable passion; creative out-of-the-box thinking and company leadership embracing and implementing state-of-the-art and new concepts in contact center technologies and with an unyielding commitment to helping clients develop new revenue streams.

In 1996 Plashkes led the merger of SP Data with ProMark One Marketing Services to form International Data Response Corporation (IRDC), where he was elected president.  Plashkes helped grow IRDC into the 3rd largest telemarketing company in North America and oversaw more than 10,000 employees.  IDRC was later acquired by Telespectrum Worldwide.

In 1999 Plashkes founded eAssist Global Solutions, a fully-integrated cloud based CRM software solutions provider.  The company was sold in 2005, Plashkes served as CEO and led the company.

Over his career, Plashkes has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world and has led key initiatives for Mercedes-Benz, American Express, Apple, Unilever, Rogers Cable, Wells Fargo, Sprint and AT&T.

Named one of “North America’s Top 10 Telepros” by Teleprofessional Magazine and recognized by Ernst and Young as an “Entrepreneur of the Year,” Plashkes resides in San Diego County, but lives in between client meetings and office rally’s on planes throughout North America.

A renowned technical visionary in the call center industry, David Borts is responsible for all US and Canadian business operations and technology innovation for the company.

With nearly 25 years of experience in customer care operations and client services, Borts most recently co-founded eAssist Global Solutions, a fully integrated CRM software solutions company where he served as chief technology officer. Prior to eAssist, Borts served as vice president of client services for International Data Response Corp (IDRC) where he oversaw the launch of Sprint PCS.

Earlier, he served as the vice president of technology for SP Data where he managed the development and implementation of next generation call center software solutions including, virtual queuing, CTI, order management, sales force automation and customer care applications for clients including Sprint, Rogers, and Mercedes-Benz, among others.

A well-respected and accomplished entrepreneur, Ken Crema serves as Chairman and Partner of SP Data, a company he helped found with the belief that “Customer Comes First.” Crema has more than 25 years of senior management experience in the creation of innovative and profitable sales and customer care solutions across multiple industry segments.

Crema previously founded MCCI, a provider of voice and Internet contact management outsourcing services and solutions. In 3 years, Crema grew MCCI to be Profit Magazine’s Fastest Growing Company with over 1,500 employees across Canada. 

A lifelong entrepreneur, Crema started his first customer care company, EDM, as a teenager and has since founded and led multiple companies in the industry. At each stop he has amassed a proven track record in team building, marketing and business development. He has invested in and lent his expertise to multiple organizations, both in Canada and the United States, as a member of their board of directors. 

Crema is based in SP Data’s Canadian headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.

Steve Murphy is responsible for managing SP Data’s finance and accounting activities and works on strategic initiatives.  His focus stretches beyond the confines of the finance department, as Murphy is highly involved across the organization in operations, business development, and human resources.  He joined S&P Data in 2010 with a background in asset management and investment banking.

Previously Murphy was an associate at Consilium Partners, a Boston based middle-market investment bank where he was primarily responsible for valuation analysis, industry research, and producing/presenting proposals to prospective investors and clients.

Prior to Consilium, he was an associate at Pacific Corporate Group, a private equity investment firm that oversaw over $15 billion in private equity investment for institutional investors.  During his time with PCG, Murphy worked across the company platform in portfolio analytics and monitoring, investment research, client services and product development.

A recognized leader in customer satisfaction and growing organizations, Daniel Bemis manages the strategic direction and day-to-day business operations of the company’s ongoing US operations and expansion into a variety of industry sectors, including cable, telecommunications, financial services, B2B, and energy.

With nearly 20 years of sales and marketing, operations, business development, and customer service experience, Bemis most recently served as president and CEO of CentraComm, a top managed IT security and cloud service provider. Under his leadership, the firm was named one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies by Inc. Magazine, and one of the 100 fastest-growing IT solutions providers by CRN.

Earlier he served as Senior Vice President of Vonage during their growth from less than $100 thousand dollars to over $500 million in annual revenues with 1.7 million customers and a 3,000-person global support network. While there, he received the Avaya Innovation Award for customer support.

He held an executive role at Adelphia Communications, a $5.3 billion cable TV company, where he restructured the company’s nearly 4,000-person customer service and inbound sales organization while achieving high customer satisfaction ratings from JD Powers. Bemis has also held senior leadership roles at Continental Cablevision, RCN, Primestar Inc, served on the NCTA customer service committee and has worked as a Principal Consultant for a number of companies. He was part of a team that won two consecutive JD Power Awards for customer satisfaction.

Bemis is based in SP Data’s US headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio.

A highly regarded industry leader with 25 years of experience in management, operations and customer care, Brian Cato is responsible for end–to-end process accountability customer contact, and strategic direction of the day-to-day business of the Canadian operations and expansion into a variety of industry sectors including telecommunications, financial services, logistics, and energy.

Prior to SP Data, Cato served as senior vice president of customer service for Denver-based telecommunications provider ICG Communications. While at ICG, Cato supervised nearly 3,200 employees across the US and drove a customer-centric reorganization of the company’s support operations.

Earlier, Cato served as President of Onlinetel Corp, a niche Internet and long-distance provider based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In this role, Cato led the company’s strategic sales, service and marketing initiatives and drove the company’s revenue growth from less than $1 million to over $15 million.

Some of Cato’s notable achievements include the development and launch of the first Inbound/Outbound Call Centre in Newfoundland, Canada, and the SP Data Call Centre in North Bay, Ontario.

Cato is based in SP Data’s Canadian headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.