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The Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame is now accepting nominations for the upcoming 2024 class; additionally, a reminder the process of selecting inductees was updated for last year going forward.
The deadline to submit a nomination is Aug. 31.
First, for those interested in nominating a banker, there are some downloadable forms linked on the front page of OBA.com – please return all nominations to Adrian Beverage (adrian@oba.com):
If a person was nominated previously, it is not necessary to re-nominate them – they will remain in consideration. Updates to their bio, letters of recommendation, etc., however, are always welcomed.
Second, as mentioned, a new process for selecting the inductees to each class was instituted in 2023. After discussion with leadership at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame about its processes, and learning about other methods from other organizations, the induction procedure for the Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame has been updated.
After all nominations have been received by OBA President and CEO Adrian Beverage, he will forward those nominees to the OBA chair (currently, Alicia Wade), who will convene a committee of 11 individuals in September to select the inductees. These 11 individuals will be made up of the OBA’s Executive Committee, who will join a banker selected by the OBA chair from each of the OBA’s six geographical groups, as well as the chair of the OBA Emerging Leaders Division. The specific committee members will be completely anonymous to everyone outside of the current OBA chair.
These committee members will select the final inductees from the group of nominees given. They will also discuss any possible posthumous inductees who may have not been nominated.
Once the inductees have been selected, the OBA chair will inform Beverage and notification and preparations will be made by the OBA staff for the induction ceremony, which will be held this year in December at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City.
Following the 2024 selections, the current selection committee will immediately disband and a new committee will be picked the following year by the next OBA chair. Aside from the OBA chair and executive committee, the selection committee will remain anonymous with only the other committee members from that specific year knowing their identities.