Summers Becomes Special Adviser to Andreessen Horowitz

Former University President Lawrence H. Summers has become a special advisor to Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm founded in 2009 and based in Menlo Park, California. Despite Summers' lack of experience in the high-tech industry, his decades of experience in economics – including his recent role as the director of the White House National Economic Council – will help the firm better understand and capitalize on their companies' places in a growing international market, according to the company.

Andreessen Horowitz's investment portfolio includes Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and Groupon. "Larry's deep insight into global economics and geopolitics will be highly useful to our companies that intend to expand globally – which is to say, all of them," said Marc Andreessen, who co-founded Andreessen Horowitz and created Netscape. Summers recently joined the board of directors of Square, a San Francisco-based mobile payment company.