A Rare Kind of Import

American businessmen are somewhat less than welcome in many parts of Europe these days, chiefly because research-minded U.S. companies are proving such formidable competition that they are eating away at the markets of many European firms. Last week, nonetheless, Europe's biggest industrial company put talented performance before touchy national pride and tapped for its inner circle of top command an American whose career is built on research. The man: Monroe E. Spaght (pronounced spate), president and chief executive of Shell Oil Co., who was picked as a managing director of Shell's huge European parent, Royal Dutch/Shell.

A Useful Talent. Spaght, 55, is the first American in Royal Dutch/ Shell's 58-year history to become one of the seven managing directors who run the firm; in fact, he is the first of any nationality other than British or Dutch. He will fill a vacancy to be created by the retirement on July 1 of Senior Managing Director John H. Loudon (TIME cover, May 9, 1960). The top job, however, will remain in traditional hands: succeeding Loudon, 59, will be another Dutch oilman, Managing Director Luitzen Brouwer, 54. Spaght will in herit one of Loudon's titles: chairman of U.S. Shell. To take over the American firm as Spaght's successor, Shell named Richard C. McCurdy, 56, an Iowa-born mining engineer who worked up from oilfield roustabout to Shell boss in Venezuela and, since 1953, has been president of Shell Chemical Co.

Shell can use an international manager with Monty Spaght's talent for making mileage. Though its 500 worldwide subsidiaries and 11% of global oil production make it the world's second biggest oil company (after Standard of New Jersey), the Shell group's performance last year was disappointing. Despite record sales of $6.9 billion, a sharp drop in gasoline and oil prices in Europe and Japan helped depress profits 3% to $583 million. Without U.S. Shell, which is 69% owned by its European parent, the slide would have been steeper. The profits of Spaght's realm rose 10% (to $198 million), fueled principally by a record $2.8 billion in sales. Since taking charge four years ago, Spaght has expanded marketing facilities so shrewdly that gasoline sales have shot up more than 40% . Last year alone, Shell's U.S. sales of refined petroleum products rose 9%, triple the industry average.

Trombone to Test Tube. A quietly disciplined scholar whose interests range from Arctic hunting expeditions to collecting Delft pottery, California-born Monty Spaght earned his way to a Ph.D. in chemistry at Stanford with the help of a dance-band trombone. He hated his first job as a research chemist at a Shell refinery but overcame his feelings sufficiently to become the company's top research and development man before he was named executive vice president in 1953. As president of the New York Economic Club, Spaght only two weeks ago introduced British Prime Minister Wilson to a star-spangled group of top U.S. businessmen, to whom Wilson promised a new economic program for Britain. From now on, at his new London base, Spaght will be taking a very direct interest in that program.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.