Steve Harris leaving Dell after 23 years to join ed-tech firm Ellucian
After more than two decades with Dell Technologies, Steve Harris is leaving the tech giant for a C-level leadership role at a well-known higher education IT firm.
Dell announced internally Thursday that Harris will be replaced by, Jim Kelly, vice president of Dell’s Department of Defense and Intelligence business.
Harris will join Ellucian on May 21 as chief revenue officer. Ellucian provides cloud software to power higher education institutions’ digital applications and platforms across campus. Best known for its enterprise resource planning and student information systems platforms, Ellucian has more than 2,700 higher education customers in more than 50 countries. The company’s software serves more than 26 million students.
“Having served the education sector for most of my career, I am acutely aware of the challenges facing many institutions, as well as the opportunities that result from implementing a modern technology strategy,” Harris said. “I look forward to working with the entire Ellucian team to lead higher education’s digital transformation in support of improved user experiences and student outcomes.”
“With more than two decades of leadership at Dell in public sector and education in the U.S. and global markets, Steve brings a strong background in digital transformation from edge to the core and cloud ideally suited for Ellucian’s rapid growth and the goals of our customers,” said Laura Ipsen, president and CEO of Ellucian. “Steve’s personal passion for higher education, expertise in cultivating deep customer and partner relationships, and a reputation for creating high-performing, diverse sales cultures made him the ideal leader for Ellucian.”
Since 1998, Harris has taken on a number of leadership roles with Dell, mostly focused on building the firm’s business with public sector organizations, including educational institutions. Most recently, he’s served as senior vice president and general manager of public sector.
“It was an incredible honor to work at dell for 23 years and a privilege to serve and support our most valued customers, the U.S. public sector,” Harris told FedScoop.
During that time, Harris has overseen a shift in Dell being known as a purely hardware-focused business to a partner to public sector organizations providing end-to-end, cloud-based digital transformation solutions. For instance, Dell was part of the team that won the Department of Defense’s massive Defense Enterprise Office Solutions (DEOS) cloud contract in 2019. He also worked through the merger of Dell and EMC federal government businesses into Dell Technologies.
Harris is a winner of multiple FedScoop 50 awards and recognized on FedScoop’s Best Bosses in Federal IT list.
