Lobbying World

• Don Baer, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, has become chairman of Penn, Schoen and Berland and vice chairman of Burson-Marsteller. Baer comes from Discovery Communications, where he was a strategic adviser to the company’s chief executive. In the Clinton White House, he served as director of strategic planning and communications as well as director of speechwriting and research. Prior to entering politics, Baer worked as a reporter and editor for U.S. News & World Report.  

• Burson-Marstel­ler has named Hollywood producer Steven Haft to head a partnership between the public affairs firm and Haft Entertainment. Called Allscreen Studios, the new unit will specialize in branded content. Haft produced the 1989 film “Dead Poets Society,” which was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award.

• Tom Matzzie, the Washington director of MoveOn.org, will leave that group to head a new fundraising organization for the 2008 White House race. The organization has yet to be named.

• Barrett Thornhill has joined Foley Hoag’s government affairs practice as a health policy specialist. He comes from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), where he was director of government relations. Prior to joining BIO, Thornhill served as a staffer for Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), former Rep. Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) and the late Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.).