Rona Tison
Executive Advisor and Tea Ambassador, ITO EN-North America
Rona Tison is currently the executive advisor and tea ambassador for ITO EN-North America. The parent company, ITO EN, based in Tokyo, is Japan’s #1 green tea brand and the world’s leading purveyor of premium and sustainably grown green tea and healthy beverages. A tea industry connoisseur with a refined approach to the US Japanese culture and innovative marketing, Tison started her career in the hospitality industry while attending University of California, Berkeley.
Fluent in Japanese, she worked as a tour guide for Japan Airline Tours (JALPAK) while in college. Tison embarked on her hospitality career at the San Francisco Hilton in the tour and travel sales department and later became catering manager. In 1985, she helped launch Air France’s Le Meridien Hotel in San Francisco as the assistant manager. Transferred to Le Parker Meridien in New York City in 1985, she oversaw the front of the house as front desk and assistant manager. Tison later joined Starwood Hotels as director of operations and public relations to open two W Hotels in New York City.
While working at the Parker Meridien in New York City, she was scouted to launch a four-floor lifestyle store, FELISSIMO, off 5th Avenue. During this time as managing director, Tison oversaw retail operations and the tearoom, which included various collaborations with UNESCO, the James Beard House, and New York Magazine.
In 2002, she joined ITO EN as executive vice president of public relations to help launch the company’s first flagship store in the United States and restaurant on Madison Avenue. The tea store subsequently was rated Top Tea Store for nine years in Zagat’s Marketplace with the restaurant, KAI, regarded as a Japanese culinary destination.
Being half Japanese and half American, she has a true passion and appreciation for the culture of traditional and modern cuisines, with a global approach to Japanese tea and cuisine.
With her seasoned tea and hospitality experience, Tison received the 2017 John Harney Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Tea Expo for her educational contributions to the tea industry, the first woman to ever receive this prestigious award.
She has been a speaker at the Smithsonian Lecture Series in Washington, DC, at the United Nations in New York City, and showcased Japanese teas at the Flavors of Japan event at the Culinary Institute of Napa Valley in California with 50 Japanese visiting Chefs. Tison has also participated in the Shizuoka Tea Festival and in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Northwest Tea Festival.
In addition to her role at ITO EN, Tison serves on the Board of the Tea Association of the USA and the Tea & Health Committee, the US-Japan Council, the Advisory Board of the Global Tea Initiative at University of California, Davis, and is a member of the Tea & Herbal Association of Canada.
