Alain De Taeye is also member of the Management Board. In 1980 he started building the first digital map databases as a research assistant in the Business School of the University of Ghent Belgium. He continued his work on route planning, geographic databases and IT consultancy in his own firm. De Taeye was co-founder of Tele Atlas by integrating his Belgian business into the Dutch Tele Atlas group in 1989. Since 1990 De Taeye has been the head of Tele Atlas. In 1993 De Taeye created the European Digital Roadmap Association, consisting of Etak (a US mapping company also active in UK), Robert Bosch GmbH (who owned a mapping division for its car navigation systems) and Tele Atlas. Later in 1995 he effectuated the merger of the Robert Bosch mapping division into Tele Atlas, and in 2000 Tele Atlas acquired Etak to expand activities in North America. In 2000 De Taeye brought Tele Atlas successfully to the stock market by an IPO on the Frankfurt stock exchange. In 2004 Tele Atlas realized the acquisition of Geographic Data Technology, further increasing North American operations and ensuring Tele Atlas’ global leadership in its chosen markets. In 2005, De Taeye led the company’s second public offering on the Euronext Amsterdam. De Taeye has a university degree in engineering and architecture and gave multiple lectures on operations research, innovation and IT strategy at the University of Ghent and the business school of Antwerp.