The Texas Bankers Hall of Fame will induct its 2022 honorees at the Ninth Annual Texas Bankers Hall of Fame Gala on April 28 on the campus of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Five iconic bankers—James D. “Jay” Dreibelbis, the late Robert Griffith “Bob” Greer, W. Wes Hoskins, Ben Morgan and R. Michael Rigby—will be recognized for their positive achievements and the many contributions to their communities and the banking industry.

The Texas Bankers Hall of Fame, established by the Smith-Hutson Endowed Chair of Banking at Sam Houston State University, recognizes and honors the accomplishments of outstanding bankers who have made valuable contributions to the banking profession and pioneered the Texas banking industry. The honorees have truly made their industry, communities and state better places.

James D. “Jay” Dreibelbis is the president and CEO of The Woodlands-based Woodforest National Bank. He received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University in 1980 and began his banking career at RepublicBank A&M in College Station. In 1986, Dreibelbis accepted the position of president at American Bank in Conroe. For the next 20 years, he served that organization in various positions, including president of First Community Bancshares, the holding company for First National Bank Texas, Fort Hood National Bank, First Community Services and First Community Mortgage.

In 2007, Dreibelbis joined Woodforest National Bank as CEO of its newly acquired institution, Woodforest Bank FSB. Shortly thereafter, he assumed the roles of president and chief operating officer of Woodforest National Bank, overseeing technology and operations. He was named president and CEO of the bank in 2018. Woodforest National Bank has more than $8 billion in assets and 750-plus branches in 17 states.

Dreibelbis’ community involvement and past accomplishments include serving on the board of directors of the Texas Bankers Association and as its 2017–18 chairman, on the advisory board for the Smith-Hutson Endowed Chair of Banking at Sam Houston State University, as a member of the board of directors of the Killeen ISD Education Foundation, drive chairman and member of the United Way board of directors, member of the Economic Development Foundation Board and volunteer at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Dreibelbis currently serves on the board of directors for Woodforest National Bank, the Woodlands Chamber of Commerce, Conroe Economic Development Council, LiftFund and Payrailz.

Robert Griffith “Bob” Greer enjoyed a banking career that spanned 71 years—from a summer job at age 16 through his recent decade-long run at Texas Gulf Bank. Both of his grandfathers were community bankers in Texas. His father, Marcus Greer, was a career banker in Galveston, Dallas and Houston.

Robert Greer was born in Galveston in 1934. He died in Houston on October 1, 2021. Greer earned a BBA degree in finance/banking in 1955 from the University of Texas–Austin. Two decades later, the University of Texas College of Business Administration named him a distinguished alumnus.

At 21, Greer joined the Texas Department of Banking as a bank examiner. He was promoted to senior examiner in charge of the 32-bank Amarillo district. Throughout his life, he fondly reminisced about his years visiting banks across the Panhandle and West Texas.

In early 1959, Greer moved to Houston to join South Main Bank. Later that year, he married Joan Philen. Their marriage and his Houston banking career stretched uninterrupted for 62 years. South Main Bank named Greer president in 1962 when he was 28.

In 1969, he was the founding president of Cullen Center Bank & Trust. Cullen Bank set a national record at that time for opening day deposits. In 1977, its merger with Frost Bank formed Cullen/Frost Bankers. Greer returned to community banking in 1985 as an organizer and chairman of Tanglewood Bank. In 1995, he was the founding chairman of the unrelated Bank of Tanglewood. From 2002 to 2010, he was vice chairman of Bank of Texas and a director of its parent company, BOK Financial. Greer joined century-old Texas Gulf Bank as chairman in early 2011. He was active there as recently as last summer, as chairman emeritus at age 87.

His unofficial title at each bank was “chief extrovert. “He’s so personable,” a colleague said in a 1994 newspaper article. “He talks with everybody.”

Greer’s leadership roles included serving as president of the Texas Bankers Association. He served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and on an American Bankers Association government relations council committee. Greer also was a director of Jefferson Pilot Corp. and a lifetime director of the Texas Medical Center.

An avid bridge player, Greer enjoyed coaching Little League baseball teams and playing tennis in earlier decades. He is survived by his wife Joan, two sons, two daughters and 12 grandchildren.

W. Wes Hoskins was born in Bastrop and grew up all over the state as his father was a park ranger. He graduated from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) with a BS degree in communications and political science.

Hoskins joined the board of directors at First Community Bank in Corpus Christi in 1993 and when a vacancy occurred, he was asked to help for two weeks as president. After the two weeks concluded, he was hired as the president and CEO and subsequently has remained at First Community Bank for 25 years. After each board meeting, Hoskins jokingly says, “I have a job for 30 more days!” The bank has grown from $37 million to more than $600 million with an ESOP that allows his employees to participate in ownership.

Being active in the banking industry and community involvement are extremely important to Hoskins. He is a current director and past chairman of the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce and past chairman of the South Texas Military Affairs Committee advocating for the area Naval bases. Additionally, Hoskins is a past chairman of the Texas Bankers Association, a current member of the Federal Reserve of San Antonio advisory board, director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas and past board member of the American Bankers Association. In 2015, he was named a commissioner to the Port of Corpus Christi, the third-largest port in the U.S. Hoskins has been a licensed auctioneer for more than 50 years, lending his services to numerous charities and fundraising efforts.

He is married to Janie, his wife of almost 50 years, and they have two children and five grandchildren.

Ben Morgan is “a gentleman, excellent community banker and nice guy,” as described by one industry executive. Over his 61-year banking career, he describes surviving multiple recessions, a few real estate crashes and the banking/savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s—not to mention two bank robberies at gunpoint and a kidnapping plot targeting his family. Morgan didn’t just survive. He and the banks he helmed thrived as he combined conservative lending practices with innovation in an industry that, for much of his career, was not known for it.

Morgan studied banking and finance at the University of Texas–Austin before embarking on a career that took him from Austin to Georgetown to Waco and then to Arlington. He graduated from the inaugural class of Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University and then, at the behest of Chairman Joe Long, returned to Austin in 1970 as president of Community National Bank. The bank grew under Morgan’s leadership and he pioneered modern conveniences, including drive-ins, electronic payment systems and ACH, ATMs and, eventually, retail banking with 28 full-service branches in Walmart stores.

As the banking crisis unfolded in the 1980s, Joe Long acquired several failed banks and merged Community National and First State under the state charter. Morgan served as president of the combined First State Bank until 1998, when it sold to Norwest and subsequently Wells Fargo. He served as vice chairman of Wells Fargo until his retirement in 1999 and remained on the advisory board for several years thereafter.

Morgan always believed community service was at the root of his success as a banker and it showed in his tireless dedication to Rotary International, Optimist International, Boy & Girls Clubs, YMCA, Child and Family Services, the Chamber of Commerce, the American Cancer Society and especially the Austin Symphony. Jane Sibley, an Austin philanthropist and businesswoman, credits Morgan for “personally saving the Austin Symphony” in the early 1970s, and he continued to serve in leadership roles with the organization for more than 40 years.

More than anything, Morgan was a consummate banker. He served on multiple bank and association boards, including Texas Independent Bank, the Texas Bankers Association, American Bankers Association, American Institute of Banking, Texas Association of Business and Austin Trust Co.

Morgan continues to live in Austin. He and his wife LaRee are the parents of six children, 17 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

R. Michael Rigby was born and grew up in Fort Worth. He attended Texas Wesleyan University and Texas Tech University, receiving a BBA degree from Texas Tech University in 1970. After graduation, Rigby entered the Marine Corps Reserve and served from 1970 to 1976. He is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Colorado and the Institute of Financial Education at the University of Washington.

Rigby has always been a strong believer in the importance and necessity of a strong community banking system and currently serves as the south regional president for Legend Bank, a locally owned community bank that was chartered in 1890 in Bowie. Located in Fort Worth, Rigby’s primary responsibility is for Tarrant County and surrounding areas. He has been with Legend Bank since 2017. From 1998 to 2008, Rigby served as president and CEO of Liberty Bank, a locally owned community bank in North Richland Hills. Upon the sale of that bank to another local group, he continued as market president from 2008  to 2017. Prior to joining Liberty Bank, Rigby was executive vice president of First National Bank of Weatherford from 1980 to 1998.

Rigby is currently a bank member director and, since 2021, chairman of the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas. He was vice chairman from 2015 through 2020 and has been a member of that board since 2009. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks in Washington, D.C., and as a member of the chair and vice chair committee.

Rigby is a past board member of the Texas Bankers Association and served as its 2007–08 chairman. He has served as chairman of the association’s BancPac committee, chairman of the Texas Bankers Association Foundation and as a member of its government relations council. He has also served as a member of the American Bankers Association BancPac committee.

Rigby previously served on the Weatherford College board of trustees from 1988 to 1998, the board of directors of the Birdville ISD Education Foundation and as a director for the North Texas Special Needs Assistance Partners. He has also previously served as an advisory director for the Texas Tech University School of Banking. Rigby is a former vice chairman of the North Richland Hills Economic Development advisory committee. He was a director of the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce and the Northeast Tarrant Chamber of Commerce, where he served as chairman. Rigby is a 25-year member of Lions International and has served as president of the Northeast Richland Lions Club.

In 1970, Rigby married Sunnye Waters. They have been married 52 years and have a son, Will Rigby and wife Melinda; daughter Amy Wiles and husband Eamonn; and four grandchildren: Hadley, Waylon, Nolan and Clara.