Rob McDougall - President

Rob McDougall, president and co-founder of Upstream Works has been a catalyst for change within the Call Center industry for many years. With Upstream Works, he developed a successful business model that provides technology solutions to many high profile customers. To ensure that Upstream Works continues to be an innovation leader, Rob plays an active role in promoting the company through company and First Contact Revolution evangelism, articles and various speaking engagements. Rob is the author of many of Upstream Works’ White Papers.

Prior to the creation of Upstream Works, Rob held the role of R&D Director for TSB International/Telco Research, where he was responsible for product development and the tactical direction of InterLynx CT, which ultimately evolved into Upstream Works’ core product “CMAS”. In his distinguished 20 year career, Rob also served as the Product Development Manager for Perle Systems Ltd. He graduated as an Electrical Engineer from the University of Western Ontario.

Jerry Sokol - Chief Operating Officer

Jerry Sokol joined Upstream Works as Chief Operating Officer in November 2004. As a respected veteran in the Canadian high tech industry, Jerry provides Upstream Works with valuable insight on the fundamentals of the I.T. market place. At Upstream Works, Jerry is responsible for leading all aspects of Product Development and Professional Services.

Prior to Upstream Works, Jerry held the role of Vice President of Product Technology and Manufacturing for IMAX Corporation. At IMAX, Jerry spearheaded the development of the MPX large format projection and audio system, designed to greatly increase the IMAX market by permitting a cost-effective retrofit to existing 35 mm stadium seat theatres. During Jerry’s distinguished career he also held the position of Vice President of Product Development for Perle Systems and has been responsible for the definition and development of many mission critical enterprise networking products. Jerry is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.

Karen Miller – Vice President of Sales

Karen brings 25 years of technology and sales leadership to Upstream Works, with more than 15 years in the contact center space As an early member of the CallPro, she was instrumental in its growth, ultimately leading to being acquired by IBM to form their LGS contact center and voice applications practice. After the acquisition, Karen successfully mentored and managed the LGS sales team to over achievement during the challenging transition, and went on to lead IBM Global Services’ Converged Voice and Data practice.

Most recently, Karen was at Cisco Systems, focused on the sale of Unified Contact Center Solutions and Unified Communications including one of the largest Cisco contact center managed services contracts. She brings a deep understanding of the unique needs of the call center space and the role that technology plays in aligning the call center with the business goals.