Edward Vogler was a billionaire owner of a pharmaceutical company who donated $100 million to the PPTH, ostensibly to help cure diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and cancer. However, his condition was to become chairman of the board of directors in order to control what his money was spent on. He took an immediate dislike to House, at first for his consistent failure to wear a lab coat, but then after he noted that House brought in very little income for the money he spent.
Robert Chase agreed to spy on House for Vogler, essentially in a bid to save his own job. Vogler then demanded that House fire one of his fellows to save money. Cameron came up with the idea of having everyone take a pay cut, but although House offered Vogler the option, Vogler turned it down - what he really wanted was to let House know that he was no longer calling the shots on his team. Without knowing of Chase's betrayal, House finally chose to fire Chase, but Vogler told him at that point he had to fire Cameron or Foreman as, although Vogler had tried to get both Cameron and Foreman to replace Chase as his snitch, they had both refused.
However, Vogler gave House one more chance - if House would agree to give a talk saying how wonderful one of Vogler's new drugs was, he would agree to keep everyone on. House agreed, to the astonishment of his team and the relief of Wilson and Cuddy. However, House soon realized that Vogler's new drug was merely an expensive alternative to a cheap medication to which Vogler had added nothing more than an antacid. Instead of giving Vogler's impressive speech, House explained to the astonished audience and a stunned Vogler that they should continue to use the old cheap drug because it was just as good. As a result, Cameron agreed to leave the team. In addition, House figured out that Chase was the snitch and, since he couldn't fire him, had to live with the fact.
After House embarrassed him, Vogler tried to have the board fire House because of his methods and lack of discipline. However, as House had tenure, a unanimous vote of the board was needed. Only one of the board members objected: James Wilson. Because he needed a unanimous vote, Vogler motioned for Wilson to be voted off the board, which only required a majority vote. It was close, but despite Cuddy's support, Wilson lost his board position and had to resign as head of oncology. As a failed motion had to wait 24 hours, Vogler had to wait another day to bring the motion.
However, in the meantime, House not only managed to save the barely viable fetus of a woman who died of cancer, he also managed to clear a couple of criminal negligence for apparently neglecting their baby by diagnosing a rare glandular disorder. As a result, Lisa Cuddy objected to firing House the next time. Vogler responded by moving to have Cuddy removed from the Board, but before she left she reminded the board that if they didn't stand up to Vogler now, they would never get another chance. The motion to remove her was defeated and, as she realized Vogler was trying to control the whole hospital, she moved to have Vogler voted off the board. The rest of the board agreed and Vogler left with his money.
Vogler has not been seen on the show since, however Chase's involvement with him has been referenced, if not with mention to Vogler. House treated Chase harshly during the episode Kids, though by the firsts season finale they seemed to be working together as normal. During the third season, Detective Michael Tritter mentioned he had heard Chase had betrayed his boss before, alluding to Chase's involvement with Vogler.