The newest class to receive the state’s highest honor will include two Oklahoma State University dignitaries.

Bruce T. Benbrook and Ann W. Hargis will be inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026.

The Oklahoma Hall of Fame was founded in 1927 and has inducted 752 members over the past century. The Class of 2026 consists of eight members, who will be inducted on Nov. 12 at the Oklahoma City Convention Center.

Benbrook, from Woodward, earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from OSU in 1976. While at OSU, Benbrook served as the student body president and was named the Outstanding Male Graduate. He was also selected as the Outstanding Senior in the College of Business and received the Outstanding Greek Man award.

Benbrook has served as the chairman and CEO of Stock Exchange Bank since 1981. His extensive history of public service includes serving as chair of the OSU/A&M Board of Regents, the Oklahoma Bankers Association, and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, as well as two terms as a State Highway Commissioner. He is also a former president of the OSU Alumni Association.

He was named a Spears School of Business 100 for 100 Outstanding Graduate in 2014 and inducted into the OSU Hall of Fame in 2020.

Benbrook and his wife, Sheryl, have two daughters — Rachel and Julia. They are all graduates of OSU. Benbrook is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association.

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Hargis, from Oklahoma City, grew up in Dallas and graduated from the University of Texas in 1966 with degrees in Latin and mathematics. In 1968, she met V. Burns Hargis and the two were married in 1969.

Ann was a systems engineer at IBM for decades, and in 2008, she became OSU’s First Cowgirl when Burns was named the university’s 18th president.

During her tenure as the First Cowgirl, she transformed the role into a platform for health and wellness, leading the America’s Healthiest Campus initiative and co-founding Pete’s Pet Posse, the nation’s most comprehensive university pet therapy program. Her service extends beyond the university through appointments by three governors to various statewide boards in education and the arts, as well as leadership within the Ann Hargis OSU Center for Pet Therapy.

Burns was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2009. Burns and Ann were both inducted into the OSU Hall of Fame in 2023. Ann earned an honorary doctorate from OSU in 2019.

She and Burns have two children, Matt and Kate, and three grandchildren. She is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association.

The fellow members of the 2026 Oklahoma Hall of Fame Class are: Dwight W. Birdwell, Joseph R. Castiglione, Sherri K. Coale, Ann Felton Gilliland, Mary F. McCormick and Ross O. Swimmer.