Dick Gephardt, a strategic advisor in the firm’s Government Affairs practice group, retired in January 2005 after serving Missouri’s Third Congressional District for 28 years. In his first year in Congress, he was appointed to the House Ways and Means and Budget Committees, where he became a national leader on health care, trade, and tax fairness. He was the leader of the House Democrats for nearly 14 years, serving as House majority leader from 1989 to 1994 and minority leader from 1995 to 2003. In that role, he emerged as one of the Democratic Party's chief strategists and spokespersons on many major issues.

Mr. Gephardt became the first Democratic candidate to enter the 1988 presidential race, helping to frame the economic issues that dominated that election. Because of his outspoken stand on behalf of American families, he was elected House majority leader. In 2003, Mr. Gephardt again pursued the Democratic presidential nomination. He campaigned to work for universal healthcare, pension reform, more teachers in the classroom, energy independence, and a trade policy.

He also serves as the advisory board chairman of the Richard A. Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University in St. Louis.

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