The Automotive Executive of the Year organization proudly supports the Arbor Day Foundation's Huron-Manistee National Forest project with a donation of 1,000 jack pine trees. The donation is part of DNV's continued support of corporate social responsibility to the environment. The trees will help provide a habitat for the Kirtland's warbler, safe within the National Forest, located in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula.

A rare songbird found in very few places on Earth, the Kirtland's warbler nests on the ground under living branches of jack pine trees in Michigan's Huron-Manistee National Forest. A pair of these small, colorful birds requires at least 8 acres of young jack pine forest to nest and 30-40 acres to raise their young. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Kirtland's warbler as an endangered species in 1973.

"The Automotive Executive of the Year nominating committee is pleased to recognize Carroll Shelby with our Lifetime Achievement Award," said Robert Djurovic, DNV's director of automotive services-North America, and executive director of the Automotive Executive of the Year award program, "but we are just as excited about this leader's future as we are about what he's accomplished in the past.

"Each year, this award ceremony brings together the industry's greatest executives in one room to reflect on its strengths and challenges," Djurovic continues. "Within an atmosphere of mutual respect and support, each of the 225 industry leaders enjoys the opportunity to celebrate a shared commitment to excellence with their automotive industry. This year will be particularly special because there won't be a person in that room who will walk away without learning something from Carroll Shelby."