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Management Team

With shared values and shared ideas, our management team, and many of our core employees, came together to form AVERTEX.

With our management team’s internal drive to succeed, hands-on experience and hundreds of years of combined experience, we have the knowledge, capability, and motivation to provide our customers with outstanding service and value-added advice.

Management

Jason Kottelenberg
President

Jason started his career as a Labourer in landscaping where attributes of hard work and attention to detail where honed. In 2001 Jason started in the underground utility industry as a Labourer, developing experience while attending college and obtaining a Diploma in Management Studies. When AVERTEX was formed in 2003 Jason joined the team, and in 2005, due to substantial corporate growth, Jason was promoted to Estimator and Contract Manager and progressed along to the position held today. Jason offers excellent organizational skills, creative solutions and has a keen eye for project details.

With these skills Jason and other team members grew our company’s water, sewer and renewable sectors, securing and executing some of AVERTEX’ largest contracts. This experience and maturation has provided Jason with a strong footing in the industry and has positioned him well to help move AVERTEX forward.

James Vis
Senior Vice President

James started working in this industry straight out of high school in 1998 as a Labourer and grew quickly to be depended upon by co-workers. He worked his way through all levels of operation; Labourer, Operator, Foreman, Supervisor to Manager. These various levels and years of development have provided him with detailed skills for executing contracts and assessing project risk as well as providing a keen sense of a project’s true needs.

James’ drive and desire for challenges has lead him to be in charge of some of AVERTEX’ more challenging projects in all sectors; Telecommunications, Water & Sewer, Power, and Renewable Energy. His close working relationship with the employees enables him to effectively assess and deploy the right resources to complete our customer’s projects. James’s strong work ethic is an example of AVERTEX’ core values.

Andrew Kottelenberg
Vice President

Andrew joined AVERTEX in 2004 and has over 15 years experience in the industry. Prior to joining AVERTEX, Andrew spent some time working in the farming industry. Working from the ground up, Andrew began his career as a Labourer where he quickly advanced throughout the organization holding roles of Operator, Foreman and Project Manager before taking on his current role. The experience and versatility gained from this career path has provided him with the ability to understand the full scope of projects.

Andrew’s strong work ethic and his desire to get the job done right has put him at the forefront of some of AVERTEX’ most challenging projects, across various sectors. This experience along with his close working relationship with field personnel sets him up effectively distinguish the best resources for our projects.

Jack Kottelenberg
Founder

After working in agriculture for a number of years, Jack began in the utility construction industry in 1985. Jack has extensive knowledge in every area of service and has been a proponent of horizontal directional drilling since its introduction to the utility construction industry in the early 1990s. Jack is especially adept at creating unique solutions for unique problems, whether in the boardroom, during the design stage, or on the job site. With Jack’s leadership, AVERTEX became an exceptional company with innovative solutions.

Founder Ex-Officio

Andy Blokker
Founder

Andy started his career in the utility construction business as a backhoe operator shortly after high school in 1979. Andy has always had a keen interest in equipment, whether in the deliberate care for the piece of equipment that he operated or the development of cutting-edge directional drilling technology through the 1990s. Andy’s vast knowledge of equipment, and its associated methods and tools, allowed AVERTEX to become a leader in the field of horizontal directional drilling.

AVERTEX Utility Solutions Inc. came into existence in August 2003 when Jack and Andy along with other members of the management team and some silent partners ventured out on their own. Jack and Andy made an asset purchase from their employer, buying some of the equipment and contracts, and taking on approx. 70 employees. And so, AVERTEX was started.

Often, people will wonder why the name AVERTEX. Well, with limited time to sort out details with the impending closing and start-up of this new company, the management had to pick a name. There were several names on the wall, one of which was Vertex; representing the fact that Dufferin County, the surrounding area of the head office in Orangeville, was one of the high points of Ontario. It was a good thought, but not wanting to be at the bottom of the bidders list, an “A” was added to the front. After all, it’s not the name of the company that is important, it’s what you make of it after that matters!

After some significant planning and preparation, in 2016, AVERTEX welcomed a young and energetic group of individuals to begin the succession of the management team and the long process of transferring ownership. By the grace of God, AVERTEX has become a successful family-oriented company.

We are thankful AVERTEX has become a successful family-orientated company built on Christian principals.  We pray that things may continue to go well and that AVERTEX can be here for generations to come to provide employment to many and serve the construction industry.

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