Lawrence "Larry" Summers, an alumnus of both the Clinton and Obama administrations, is joining the board of a San Francisco start-up working closely with government entities and financial institutions to fine-tune consumer data.
The New York Times reported that Summers will be announced as the newest board member to Premise, a start-up company that uses photos of foods worldwide to track the price of goods and generate data.
Premise collects data -- in the form of food pictures -- captured and uploaded by about 16,000 using its Android app, analyzing it to generate "indicators tracking real-time inflation, market activity and brand performance over time," according to the business’ website.
By offering such tools, Premise has secured a partnership with the World Bank, spearheading a six-month pilot program geared towards collecting data in Brazil, Indonesia, and Nigeria.
According to Premise co-founder and chief executive David Soloff, the company also works with unnamed government agencies to generate additional information for the consumer price index and other data measures. Financial companies, such as the British bank Standard Chartered, are also using the product.
"Better, faster data can change the world," Summers said of his decision to join the start-up’s board. "Premise has the prospects of making an important contribution to that. That will be good for economics and for economies."
Between his posts at the White House, Summers also served as the president of Harvard University. He helped Obama wade through the financial crisis and was allegedly favored by the president to replace Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman before withdrawing himself from consideration in 2013.