Matthew Barzun, since 2009 the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, is giving up his diplomatic post to oversee fund-raising for President Obama’s re-election campaign, which some experts believe could be the country’s first $1 billion White House campaign.
From the Boston Globe:
Barzun, a 40-year-old Harvard College graduate, will serve as national finance chairman for Obama for America, the president’s Chicago-based campaign committee. He is replacing Penny Pritzker, the Chicago billionaire who helped raise nearly $750 million for Obama’s 2008 campaign.
Barzun, an Internet entrepreneur with close ties to Louisville, was a major fund-raiser in Obama’s 2008 campaign. He lived in Louisville prior to his appointment, and is married to Brooke Brown Barzun, and his brother-in-law is Gill Holland. Barzun previously served on several local boards, including Louisville Public Media, the Louisville Urban League and the Greater Louisville Project.
He posted this message on his ambassadorial blog: “Two years ago, President Obama asked me to serve in this great and globally connected nation of Sweden because I understood and believed in his vision for America and its role in the world. …But now President Obama has asked me to take on a new mission.”
He’s expected to leave Sweden by the end of May.
