David Richter, former CEO of Hill International, has formed an exploratory committee in accordance with the rules of the U.S. Federal Election Commission as a first step in considering a potential 2020 run for Congress in New Jersey’s Second Congressional District against freshman Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew.

Richter, 52, is an engineer, lawyer and businessman.  He worked for 22 years at global construction management firm Hill International, rising from General Counsel to Group President to Chief Operating Officer and eventually to Chief Executive Officer.  During the time he worked at Hill, it grew from a private firm with less than 300 employees to a New York Stock Exchange-listed global public company with more than 4,300 employees.  As a result, Richter knows how to create jobs and knows the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and small business owners who are trying to grow their companies.

Hill’s projects locally included the Battleship USS New Jersey Memorial, the Comcast Center skyscraper, the National Constitution Center and the Liberty Bell Pavilion.  Around the world, Hill has managed the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum near Cairo, the U.S. Supreme Court Building modernization, the National Library of Latvia, Miami’s Frost Museum of Science, the development of Palm Island in Dubai, the renovation of New York City Hall, and the Los Angeles Metro’s Gold Line extension, among thousands of other projects.  Hill received more than 100 awards for project excellence during David’s leadership at the company.

A lifelong Republican, Richter grew up in and has spent most of his life living and working in South Jersey.

“New Jersey is quickly becoming a one-party state, and that party continues to move leftward towards socialism.  We need elected representatives in Congress who will fight for less government, lower taxes and free markets, and who will protect our individual rights and constitutional liberties,” said Richter.

Last month, he attended the New Jersey Republican Statewide Leadership Summit in Atlantic City, meeting with GOP state, county and municipal leaders and activists.

“I very much enjoyed attending the NJGOP Summit last month and getting the opportunity to speak with party leaders and activists from across the state,” said Richter.  “The energy and optimism heading into this year’s legislative, county and local races was extremely high, and I look forward to helping South Jersey Republican candidates on the ballot this year while I further explore running for Congress next year.”

Richter is a three-time graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he earned two bachelor’s degrees in management and civil engineering as well as a law degree.  He earned his master’s degree in major program management from the University of Oxford.  Next month, he will be receiving his fifth degree: a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.  At Harvard, he has served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the leading forum in the nation for conservative legal scholarship and the official publication of The Federalist Society.

Rcently, he received the 2018 Construction Management Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers “for his service to the global construction management industry and his executive leadership in building Hill International into the largest independent construction management firm in the world.”

Richter and his wife Michelle, who have been married for 20 years, are the parents of four daughters.