Don Baer is Worldwide President and CEO of the strategic communications firm Burson-Marsteller and Chairman of the research firm Penn, Schoen & Berland, both WPP, Inc. companies. Don has been a member of Burson-Marsteller’s global senior management team since 2008, while also leading major client engagements especially for top technology, communications and media companies. In 2011, he became Cofounder/Chairman of Palisades Media Ventures, a public affairs and news media development company co-owned with WPP.

Don’s career has spanned leading roles as a media and communications executive for a wide range of important business, government and non-profit organizations. He has had extensive strategic, operational and creative experience at the White House, global companies and major media organizations.

From 1998 to 2007, Don helped lead global media company Discovery Communications. As Senior Executive Vice President for Strategy and Development and an executive committee member, reporting to the CEO, he led worldwide marketing efforts; new ventures/acquisitions; new media strategy/operations, and corporate-level business development, communications, research and public policy. He drove significant growth in Discovery’s online offerings, including acquisitions of digital businesses and the launch of its first mobile video services, and oversaw the Discovery/New York Times Company joint venture in the Discovery Times Channel. As a producer, he oversaw the 2004 Emmy Award winning series Decisions That Shook the World and a documentary series with Thomas Friedman of The New York Times. Don managed Discovery’s partnership with the American Film Institute to createSilverdocs, America’s top documentary festival.

From 1994-98, Don was a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton. As an Assistant to the President and White House Director of Strategic Planning and Communications and, before, as Chief Speechwriter/Director of Speechwriting and Research, Don was widely recognized for his key role in the Clinton Presidency, including the historic 1996 re-election. In addition to managing an integrated message strategy across multiple domestic and foreign policy government agencies, he led the development of many major Presidential addresses, including working on every State of the Union from 1995 – 2000.

From 1985-93, Don was a journalist. At U.S. News and World Report, he covered politics and the White House and, as an assistant managing editor, oversaw national and international coverage. He also worked at The American Lawyer, has written for publications including The New York Times and Politico, was a CBS News analyst and has appeared on many national TV news shows. Since 2000, he has helped write the annual Kennedy Center Honors TV production, winning two Writers Guild of America awards.

In the 1980s, Don was a media lawyer at New York’s Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler. He is on the board of directors of PBS, the Urban Institute and the News Literacy Project, as well as two digital media businesses, Fora.tv and Toura. Don received a B.A. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Phi Beta Kappa), a Master's in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a J.D. from The University of Virginia School of Law. He lives with his wife, Nancy Bard, and two sons in Washington, D.C.