The Language of Automation
Team Profile: Brian Vogelaar, Vice President, Solutions & Architecture
Brian Vogelaar still likes to make sawdust.
After a day spent thinking about automation systems, legacy equipment, cybersecurity risks and the accelerating role of AI in industrial operations, the Vice President of Solutions & Architecture at InnoTech Engineering heads for the wood shop in his garage. There, with tools in hand and something tangible taking shape in front of him, he reconnects with the kind of work that first drew him into the field nearly 40 years ago: practical, hands-on, built to last. “I’m still a construction guy,” he says. “You name it, I’ll build it. If it breaks, I will fix it.”
Four Decades of Building, Fixing and Improving
That instinct, to understand how things work and make them work better, has shaped Brian’s entire career: from industrial electrical construction in the mid-1980s, to maintenance and automation, to engineering consulting and international field work, and now to co-leading a company built on trust, technical depth and long-view relationships. At InnoTech, the company he and President Mark Nudd launched in 2016 after decades of working side by side, Brian represents the kind of experience clients can feel immediately: grounded, curious, steady under pressure and deeply committed to getting the job done right.
A Partnership Forged in the Field
Brian and Mark’s working relationship goes back to 1990, when the two met during the startup of a new pulp mill in Peace River. Since then, they’ve “tag-teamed” through three or four companies, building not only a professional partnership but a shared way of doing business. Brian describes them as different and complementary but aligned where it counts. “When it comes down to the things that really matter, we’re at the same mindset,” he says, pointing to a shared values foundation and a leadership approach rooted in integrity.
In 2007, Brian turned those values into action when he received his Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification, delivering high-quality, high-value services to customers.
Engineering with Empathy and Service in Mind
This customer-first approach shows up in how Brian talks about engineering. He doesn’t describe the work as abstract systems design or technical problem-solving for its own sake. He talks about service, empathy and solving problems.
And Brian understands his clients’ problems firsthand. He spent years in the field, first building gas plants and refineries from engineered drawings, then moving into industrial maintenance, instrumentation, automation and systems programming. Later, he crossed over to the owner-operator side before joining a consulting firm full-time. The result is a rare through-the-process perspective: he has built it, maintained it, used it and now helps clients improve it. “Without a customer perspective, you can’t serve the customer very well,” he says.
From Alberta to the World: A Broad Industrial Perspective
That breadth of experience has taken him far beyond Alberta. Over the years, Brian has worked in Venezuela, the Middle East, Canada and the United States, applying automation and control expertise across power generation, oil and gas, refineries and even food production. In Caracas, he worked on a power plant. In Pittsburgh, he supported development work with an automation systems company. In San Diego, he worked on a project for NutraSweet involving harvested kelp and food additives; a far cry from petrochemicals, but not as different as it might seem. “Whether you’re making peanut butter or pulp,” he says, “you’re controlling temperatures, you’re controlling pressures.” In automation, many industries speak the same language.
Bridging Old Infrastructure and New Technology
Today, Brian’s role at InnoTech spans proposal support, technical strategy, vendor relationships and mentoring staff through the complexities of both emerging technology and aging infrastructure. He helps ensure the company’s solutions are not just technically sound, but right for the client’s real-world needs. That begins, he says, with resisting a common engineering trap: assuming you understand the problem too quickly. “You have to make sure you understand the whole problem,” he says, before you can come up with the best solution.
Innovation with Accountability: Navigating Risk and Change
It also means helping clients navigate an industry that has changed dramatically. Brian has watched industrial systems evolve from closed, proprietary platforms into highly integrated environments where data flows freely and decision-making happens faster than ever. He sees enormous opportunity in that shift – smarter plants, better efficiency, better use of resources – but he is equally alert to the risks. Cybersecurity, once barely a consideration, is now central to responsible engineering. In Brian’s world, opening the door to innovation means making sure nothing dangerous slips in with it.
People Serving People
For all the technical change, Brian believes the core of the business has not changed at all. In fact, it’s simple: “In the end, we’re just people serving people,” he says.