Lane Fox will join the retailer from June 1 this year, adding the role to her current non-executive directorship at broadcaster Channel 4.
In 2003, not long after her exit from Last Minute, Lane Fox was linked with an executive job at high profile retailer Selfridges. However, in May 2004 she was involved in a car accident in Morocco. She was thrown from the car, breaking her pelvis in six places and causing severe damage to her leg and arm. According to Ms Lane Fox herself, she very nearly died at the scene.
She joins the resurgent high street retailer following impressive results, with profits boosted by more than 28% to £965.2m, for the year ending March 31. It just missed out on the magic £1bn figure, which was last seen on the M&S balance sheet nearly ten years ago in 1998.
The retailer's sales were up by 10.1% to £8.6bn across the group, with the UK showing impressive growth, with sales jumping by 9.7%. The largest rise in sales was seen internationally with growth of 16.8% during the period.
Stuart Rose, chief executive at M&S, said: "We have had a good year, delivering a 10% increase in sales to a record level of £8.6bn. We have grown profits by over £200m. Market share has improved in all clothing categories and food. We continue to improve our product ranges, offering customers better quality, value, innovation and newness. Service standards have improved. We continue to invest in modernising our stores and 70% of our store portfolio will be modernised by the end of the year."
M&S said that it would further commit to its expansion plans with the opening of an extra 100 of its Simply Food stores this year, and would create up to 10,000 new jobs in the UK over the next three years.
The high street retailer said that it had benefited from its recent advertising campaigns featuring sixties model Twiggy, 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' star Myleene Klass, and model Elizabeth Jagger, as well as its memorable M&S food campaign.
The campaign was created by the retailer's ad agency, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R. Media planning and buying is handled by Walker Media.
Last month M&S ditched former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry as brand ambassador for its Autograph range, after he praised Nazi iconography during an interview with a German newspaper.