Jonkheer John Hugo Loudon

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

(27 June 1905 – 4 February 1996) was the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Royal Dutch Shell from 1952 to 1965 and the president of World Wide Fund for Nature.

Early life

Born in The Hague, Netherlands, the son of former Shell president Hugo Loudon, John Hugo Loudon got a law degree at Utrecht University. He joined the company in 1930, working in the oilfields of

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo (Spanish: Lago de Maracaibo; Anu: Coquivacoa) is a lagoon in northwestern Venezuela, the largest lake in South America and one of the oldest on Earth, formed 36 million years ago in the Andes Mountains. The fault in the northern se ...

, Venezuela.

Career

In 1952, Loudon became the head of Shell Petroleum. In this role he tried to prevent discrimination between nationals and non-nationals in the work force. In May 1960, he was featured on Time magazine's cover. He resigned as the CEO of Shell in 1965 and continued to serve the company as chairman of the board of supervisory directors for the next 11 years. Following his role with Shell, Loudon was appointed the chairman of an international business advisory committee at Chase Bank by David Rockefeller. Loudon retired from this role in 1977. Loudon became president of World Wide Fund for Nature in 1977 and served as president until 1981.

Personal life

In 1931 he married Marie van Tuyll van Serooskerken who became lady in waiting to Queen Wilhelmina and with whom he had four children. Later he married Charlotte Van Sminia. Loudon spoke five languages and was a member of the Royal yacht Squadron.

References

1905 births 1996 deaths Dutch chief executives in the oil industry Shell plc people Dutch nonprofit executives Businesspeople from The Hague Utrecht University alumni Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Chief Executive Officers of Shell plc {{Netherlands-bio-stub