Larry Summers

Lawrence H. Summers, a controversial former Treasury secretary and president emeritus of Harvard University, joined OpenAI's interim board in November 2023 following the brief ousting and reinstatement of CEO Sam Altman. Summers resigned from the board in November 2025 after emails between him and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released by a House committee.

Education & Early Career

Summers received a bachelor of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1982. In 1983, he became one of the youngest individuals in recent history to be named as a tenured member of the Harvard University faculty. In 1987 he became the first social scientist ever to receive the annual Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation (NSF), and in 1993 he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40.

Career History

• 71st Secretary of the Treasury (1999-2001) under President Bill Clinton
• Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (1995-1999)
• Chief Economist of the World Bank (1991-1993)
• Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama (2009-2010)
• President of Harvard University (2001-2006)

As Treasury Secretary, Summers' tenure coincided with the longest period of sustained economic growth in U.S. history, and he is the only Treasury Secretary in the last half century to have left office with the national budget in surplus. As Director of the National Economic Council under President Obama, his thinking helped shape the U.S. response to the 2008 financial crisis.

He is highly sought-after for his reputation as a brilliant economist and his network of contacts in the worlds of politics and finance. However, his tenure has been marked by multiple controversies, from a 1991 World Bank memo regarding pollution and developing countries to comments about women in science during his Harvard presidency.

Note: Summers announced his retirement from Harvard University and his professorship at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year in February 2026, following the release of documents regarding his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.