Tom Luce’s life has been one of family, professional accomplishments, public service and social Entrepreneurship.

Tom has been married to his life partner, Pam, for 58 years. They have three adult children, a daughter-in-law and seven grandchildren.

He received his undergraduate and law degrees from Southern Methodist University.

Tom was the founding and managing partner of the Hughes and Luce law firm. His career was centered on corporate law and commercial litigation. He was lead attorney on multi-billion mergers and litigation, and was selected at various points in his career as one of the best attorneys in Dallas, Texas and the United States.

His public service in Texas was distinguished by gubernatorial and legislative appointments to major state positions including Chief Justice of the Supreme Court pro tempore, member of the Sunset Commission, Superconducting Super Collider Commission, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, Texas Commission on Judiciary, Chief of Staff of the Select Committee on Public Education, and Education Commission of the States.

On the national level, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of Education by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate, and appointed to The Library of Congress Board by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In addition to founding Texas 2036, Tom has founded and lead numerous other nonprofit organizations dedicated to serving the needs of others including the Texas Business and Education Coalition, Just for the Kids, Data Quality Campaign, the National Center for Educational Accountability, the National Math and Science Initiative, the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, and was a founding member of the Board of the Episcopal School of Dallas.

He has authored two books on improving public education and has taught at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Texas at Dallas.