Former Education official joins Dell board

Tom Luce, former assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development at the Education Department, has rejoined Dell’s Board of Directors as a member of the Audit Committee. Luce resigned from Education Sept. 1, after a little more than a year there.

He continues to serve as a consultant to Education.

Luce previously worked on the Dell board from 1991 to 2005 and also was a member of the Audit Committee for much of that time, according to a Dell statement released today.

He will be on the board until the next annual meeting of stockholders, at which time his continued service will be subject to renomination and stockholder approval, the statement reads.

Dell is a top company on the GSA Schedule 70 contract, charting $1.6 billion in sales through that contract in fiscal 2003 and $1.5 billion in fiscal 2004, according to an analysis by Eagle Eye Publishers.

But Dell is facing increased direct-sales competition in the government market, and a recent recall of about 4 million Dell laptop computer batteries hurt the company's reliability image.

“Tom's historical knowledge of Dell and his past experience on our Audit Committee are great assets to have available for our board,” Michael Dell, chairman of Dell, said in a statement. “His perspectives will also be valuable as we launch Dell 2.0 -- a revitalization of our Direct Model that builds upon our traditional strengths of delivering the greatest value to customers while best positioning us for the future.”

Luce has worked in major posts in Texas government including chief justice pro tempore of the Texas Supreme Court. He was a founding and managing partner of the law firm of Hughes and Luce until his retirement from the firm in 1997.