Honoring the Legacy & Recognizing the PIVOT

By: J. David Chapman, PhD, / October 2, 2026

Real estate is ultimately a business about places - but it has always been driven by people. On October 7, Oklahoma’s real estate community will gather at the University of Central Oklahoma for the annual Commercial Real Estate Summit. We will spend the day talking about development, brokerage, construction, finance, property management, transit and the many other disciplines that shape our built environment.

But two of my favorite moments of the Summit have little to do with buildings or transactions. They are about recognizing people. This year, we will induct Chuck Wiggin and Gloria Allred-Hail into the Oklahoma Real Estate Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was created last year with the induction of Mark Beffort and Mo Anderson as its founding members. The idea was simple: Oklahoma needed a permanent way to recognize those whose careers have fundamentally shaped real estate in our state.

Chuck Wiggin and Gloria Allred-Hail are wonderful additions to that legacy. Their careers represent leadership, entrepreneurship, service and a commitment to an industry that touches virtually every Oklahoma community. Their induction isn't simply about what they have accomplished. It is about preserving their examples for the people who will follow them.

At the Oklahoma Real Estate Hall of Fame Induction reception, we will also recognize another group through the Commercial Real Estate Summit PIVOT Awards™. The PIVOT Awards were created more than a decade ago to recognize people making a meaningful difference in Oklahoma real estate. Unlike the Hall of Fame, they aren't lifetime-achievement awards. They recognize leadership happening around us today - people who are willing to innovate, collaborate, solve problems and sometimes change direction when circumstances demand it.

Our 2026 PIVOT Award recipients are Jason Ferbrache, Ryan McNeill, Ryan Storer and Kelly Kinser. Four people. Four different contributions. One common characteristic: each is helping move our communities and our industry forward.

That distinction between the two awards is important to me. The Hall of Fame asks us to look back and appreciate the shoulders upon which our industry stands. The PIVOT Awards ask us to look around and recognize the people doing important work right now.

And perhaps both ask us to look forward. One of the great privileges of hosting these recognitions at UCO is that students are in the room. Future brokers, developers, lenders, investors and property managers get to sit beside people who have spent decades building Oklahoma. They see careers worth emulating and discover that success in real estate isn't measured only in square feet, dollars or transactions.

It is also measured in impact. That may be the most important lesson we can teach the next generation.

On October 7, we will talk about deals, developments and where Oklahoma real estate is headed next. But we will also stop long enough to say thank you - to those who helped build the industry we inherited and to those helping shape the one we will leave behind.

That is worth celebrating. And I hope Oklahoma's real estate community will join us at UCO for the 2026 Commercial Real Estate Summit to do exactly that.

Dr. J. David Chapman is Chair of Finance and Professor of Real Estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).