• Howard Dean will serve as an independent consultant to the government affairs practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge. Once the governor of Vermont, Dean is the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and ran for president in 2004.
• Jon C. Porter has joined Akerman Senterfitt as the firm’s director of public policy. Porter was a Republican House member and was considered a top challenger to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in his reelection bid this year.
{mosads}• Andrew C. von Eschenbach has joined Greenleaf Health as a senior adviser. Von Eschenbach recently stepped down as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
• Thomas Barker has joined Foley Hoag. Barker was the former acting general counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services. He will be a partner in the firm’s healthcare and life-sciences practices.
• Payson R. Peabody has been hired by Dykema as of counsel to the firm’s tax practice group. Peabody was tax counsel for Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee.
• Ronald J. Tenpas has joined Morgan Lewis and will work in the firm’s litigation practice. Tenpas was the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s environment and natural resources division.
• Moira Whelan has joined the Department of Homeland Security as its new director of strategic communications. Whelan formerly was director of strategy and outreach at the National Security Network.