TORONTO -

During the opening session of Auto Remarketing Canada 2011 — Canada’s Used Car Conference this week, event organizers revealed the winner of the second Ward & Hart-Stephens Excellence in Remarketing Award.

Receiving this year’s honor was David Sudbury, the former vice president at Honda Finance Canada who recently retired after serving 29 years with the automaker.

The award — which debuted at the 2009 Auto Remarketing Canada conference — was created to honor leaders in the Canadian remarketing industry for long-term achievements in the field and was named after the late Ruth Hart-Stephens and William Ward.

Arnold Lee, of FinanciaLinx, won the award in its first year.

Presenting this year’s award to Sudbury were Brad Hart, vice president of operations for Manheim Canada and son of the late Hart-Stephens, and Kathy Ward, president and chief executive officer of Canadian Black Book and the daughter of William Ward.

"I was surprised and humbled and very appreciative of the honor," Sudbury told Auto Remarketing Canada after receiving the award. "It’s a nice cap to an almost 30-year career."

Sharing his appreciation for the award’s namesakes, he added: "It’s very significant because they are truly pioneers in the auction and remarketing in Canada."

Sudbury went on to note that Hart-Stephens and Ward are synonymous with "quality and commitment to the remarketing industry in Canada."

Sudbury’s experience with Honda included time in human resources, finance and sales. The long-time executive’s background is in human resources, and his career stops before Honda span a number of industries.

His positions included time with the Royal Doulton fine China company, Canadian Motorola and the University of Toronto.

Hart and Kathy Ward talked to Auto Remarketing Canada about the respect they and many others have for Sudbury.

"David was always approachable, easy to talk to," Ward said. "He was always eager to help."

Hart cited "his professionalism, his commitment to his team and to the suppliers he works with, namely the auction people.

"I think he’s respected as an industry leader by many people," Hart added.