About
A lot of experience. A new way forward.
We help communities make better infrastructure decisions, and build the teams, knowledge, and tools to make the next decision even better.
Mike Van DoornPE, P.Eng., PMP
Founder & Principal
- Professional Engineer (PE), Washington
- Professional Engineer (PE), Nevada
- Professional Engineer (P.Eng.), Alberta
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- B.Sc. Civil Engineering, University of Alberta
A note from Mike
I have spent nearly three decades in water infrastructure: big transmission mains, pump stations, hydraulic models, master plans, and the large programs that tie them together. Most of that time, through a long career with Stantec in Canada and across the U.S. Mountain West, I was the person asked whether the system would actually work.
Somewhere along the way I noticed that the hardest problems were rarely the calculations. They were the decisions around them. Which question are we answering? Who decides? What are we assuming without saying so? And who will remember why, ten years from now?
Blue Line is my answer to that. It is a place to do serious technical work on those decisions, with good people on difficult problems, and to build methods and tools that get handed on instead of lost. That includes better data, automation and AI, used where they make the work clearer and more repeatable, not for their own sake. I would like it to outlast me.
I believe in working hard and having fun doing it, and I have never found those two to be in conflict. Outside of work I am a Gen X nerd at heart: hockey player, music geek, tech enthusiast, husband and dad. You will usually find me somewhere around the Pacific Northwest with my family, following my soccer-obsessed teenager from field to field, or digging through a playlist for the right soundtrack. Chewie usually supervises.
Why “Blue Line”
A hockey blue line, a pipeline on a drawing, and the threshold where analysis becomes commitment. One name for all three. The ring in the logo is the decision point the line passes through.
Where we come from
A career in conveyance hydraulics, pump systems, strategic planning and program leadership, in technical and executive roles, on both sides of the border.
Where we’re heading
Founder-led today, built to grow: a team of people who share what they know, methods that improve with use, and work that leaves communities better served.
Meet the senior partner.
Chewie “Chuckles”
Senior Partner, Morale & Community Relations
Miniature schnauzer
Chuckles believes in loyalty, curiosity, fresh air, good company, and the strategic value of a well-timed walk. Her technical qualifications remain under review, but her people skills are exceptional. She has one long-running open file: the squirrels. She pursues it with total commitment and has yet to close it out.
Specialties: relationship building, field reconnaissance, squirrel pursuit, snack-based motivation.
Our network
Blue Line works alongside owners, engineering firms and specialists. Partners will be named here when there are real ones to name and they have agreed to it.
Built to Change the Game.
Let’s build something that lasts.
Whether you have a decision to make or just want to compare notes, Mike reads every message himself.
