David Richter in front of the Comcast Center, Philadelphia.

"I was always fascinated by anything related to construction, and I still am," says Richter, whose father, attorney Irvin Richter, created Hill International in 1976, and was its sole employee. Today, Hill is a worldwide construction consulting company with 60 offices worldwide, 1,400 employees and approximately $200 million in revenues last year. The company is the largest construction claims company in the world and the 17th largest project management company in the United States.

At 40, David Richter is president and chief operating officer of the company. And now it's his briefcase that's stuffed with all manner of construction-related documents and drawings, although his own four daughters, all under the age of five, are still a bit too young to be interested in its contents.