José Antonio Tazón García (b. 1943) has held a number of prominent positions in the travel industry and was instrumental in developing a world-leading global distribution system. He has been a Director of Expedia since 2009.
José graduated in Computer Science from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, and began his career working for the NCR Corporation in Dayton, Ohio, where he served as Senior Communications Software Specialist. As Technical Project Leader he developed Amadeus Global Travel Distribution SA's host hotel system which was first used in the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. On returning to Spain in 1975, he joined Iberia Airlines as Director of the Department of Maintenance Engineering, where Finance was later added to his responsibilities. From 1978, he served as the airline’s System Development Director, and in 1983 was made Head of Systems Planning for all data processing within the airline.
Upon joining Amadeus IT Holding SA in 1987 as General Manager and Senior Vice President of Operations, José was instrumental in supervising the construction and operation of Amadeus' Data Processing Centre in Germany, one of the largest civil data processing centres in Europe. He served as the President and Chief Executive Officer at Amadeus from 1990–2008, during which time he was credited with driving the ... development of Amadeus to its position as the world's leading and most advanced global distribution system. He has been Chairman and Director of Amadeus since 2009, the same year he was made a member of the Board of Directors of Expedia Inc.
José is a member of the World Travel & Tourism Council, and of the Permanent Commission of the Tourism Board of the Confederation of Employers & Industries of Spain (CEOE)
Jose was honoured by the British Travel & Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2004.