Richard A. Cornell, PE

Richard A. Cornell, PE is a professional engineer, economist, and systems architect whose work spans more than four decades across infrastructure planning, financial systems, GIS innovation, and labor‑market design. His career is unified by a consistent focus on how complex technical and institutional systems shape economic performance, community outcomes, and the voluntary coordination of human action.

Cornell earned a B.E. from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1973, an M.A. in Economics from New York University in 1978, and became a licensed Professional Engineer in 1986. After completing his graduate studies, he founded the Austrian Economics Association, which met at the NYU Club and hosted structured discussions on monetary theory, market processes, and financial system behavior. He concurrently worked in the Treasury Department of the Bank of New York, developing an Asset/Liability Management program used for risk management of the bank’s Foreign Books, and later at W.R. Grace maintaining financial‑reporting systems for its retail holdings.

Early in his engineering career at Wallace & Tiernan, Cornell designed an automated method for inking pressure‑gauge dials and flow‑meter scales using emerging computer‑graphics technologies. At NUI/Elizabethtown Gas, he pioneered the conversion of paper records into GIS and created the Fieldbook™ product line, later spun off and acquired by Hatch Mott MacDonald. As Manager of Technology Development, he expanded Fieldbook™ into an online network‑analysis platform and supervised planning for gas‑distribution systems and transmission pipelines. As Senior Project Engineer, he served as Engineer of Record for multiple Gate Stations, presenting and defending his designs before municipal planning boards.

Cornell continued this work at Hatch Mott MacDonald as a Senior Associate and Senior Project Manager, integrating GIS, hydraulic modeling, and digital planning tools into large‑scale infrastructure projects. He also served as a GIS expert witness in an Administrative Law case, reflecting his recognized expertise in spatial analysis and utility‑system modeling.

In 1997, as Chairman of the Traffic and Transportation Committee of the Union County Chamber of Commerce, he authored the Conceptual Business Plan: Plainfield–Elizabeth Rail Link, an exploration of rail‑centered mobility and voluntary, market‑based approaches to transportation coordination in New Jersey. Since 2016, he has been the founder and systems architect of SFHAX The Workplace Community™, a secure, scalable platform designed to increase transparency, efficiency, and voluntary cooperation in the labor market through governance models grounded in economic theory.

Cornell remains active in professional and civic leadership. He is a member of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA), where he led Panel 6.15, Worker and Employer Voice — Issues Confronting the Labor Market, at the 2024 Annual Meeting in New York City. He has presented research at the NJ TransAction Conference & Expo, the Libertarian Scholars Conference, and the Austrian Economics Research Conference. He also serves as Chair of the Livingston Trails and Greenways Committee, Co‑Chair of the Livingston Transportation Advisory Committee, and Lt. Governor of Division 5 of the New Jersey District of Kiwanis International. As President of The Model Railroad Club, Inc., he served as Project Manager and Project Engineer for a 6,000‑square‑foot building expansion constructed over a decade by volunteer crews.

His interdisciplinary background in engineering, economics, and systems innovation informs Zoning for People, which was presented at the April 2026 Transaction conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The two part workshops examines how transportation and land‑use structures shape affordability, mobility, and community life.