The Bipartisan Policy Center's Advisory Board is comprised of its founders, former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle and Bob Dole (Senator George Mitchell stepped down to join the Obama Administration in March 2009), and former Majority Leader Richard Gephardt. The Advisory Board provides broad strategic direction and guidance to the organization, and actively embodies the Bipartisan Policy Center's founding mission of working across party lines to tackle the difficult policy challenges facing the nation, while promoting greater civility in public discourse.