McGriff announces new appointments for Houston-based Southwest Region

June 15, 2022

McGriff today announced three new senior appointments for its Southwest Region based here.

Ernie Leist has been named as a Senior Vice President and producer in the McGriff Energy & Marine division. With more than 16 years of experience in energy and marine operations and claims, Leist previously served as regional claims manager for McGriff’s Southwest Region. He will use his experience in operations and claims in his new role.

“We are very excited to have Ernie join our Production team in the Energy & Marine division,” said Patrick Dessauer, regional president for McGriff’s Southwest Region. “He has worked many years as a strong advocate on behalf of our energy and marine clients. His years of experience with McGriff coupled with his experiences working in the oil and gas industry gives him a distinctive vantage point to help bring unique solutions to our clients.”

Prior to McGriff, Leist worked as a rig manager for an international drilling contractor and held various operations roles for inland waterways, ports and international drilling sites. He has lived and worked in Nigeria, Angola, Namibia, Canary Islands, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.

Leist earned his bachelor’s degree in maritime administration at Texas A&M University at Galveston. He can be reached at eleist@mcgriff.com or (713) 427-1221.

McGriff has named Dwayne Holmes as regional claims leader for its Southwest Region. An industry veteran with more than 37 years of claims experience, Holmes joined McGriff in 2004 and most recently served as a senior claims executive. He will succeed Leist in the Southwest Region claims management role.

Holmes previously held claims management and account management positions with various private companies and underwriters. He earned his bachelor’s degree in managerial studies from Rice University, and his MBA in finance from the University of St. Thomas. He holds the Associate in Risk Management (ARM), Certified Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC), and Certified Risk Manager (CRM) designations.

Holmes will use his extensive experience in administration, policy language interpretation, third-party and carrier management, cost containment, workers’ compensation, and liability to provide claims advocacy. He can be reached at 713-402-1437 or dholmes@mcgriff.com.

Finally, McGriff has hired Lindsey Green Doallo as a senior vice president and claims executive for the Southwest Region claims team. With more than 20 years of experience, Doallo began her career as an energy claims adjuster, and most recently served as the major loss adjuster for energy and construction for a large global insurance brokerage.

In her new role, Doallo will leverage her extensive experience with upstream claims and large and complex builder’s risk losses to help manage claims in the McGriff Energy, Marine and Construction practices.

Doallo earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Houston Baptist University. She can be reached at lindsey.doallo@mcgriff.com or 713-940-6518.

“McGriff has always focused on getting the right people in the right positions to best serve our clients as the retail division of one of the world’s largest brokers,” Dessauer said. “The depth of industry expertise that Ernie, Dwayne, and Lindsey bring to these roles furthers our commitment to meeting the unique needs of the energy and marine sectors.”

A subsidiary of Truist Insurance Holdings, McGriff is a full-service insurance broker providing risk management and insurance solutions to clients across the United States. The firm’s coverages include commercial property and casualty, corporate bonding and surety services, cyber, management liability, captives and alternative risk transfer programs, small business, employee benefits, title insurance, personal lines, and life and health. 

Truist Insurance Holdings, Inc.(opens in a new tab), the sixth largest insurance broker in the U.S., and seventh largest in the world, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Truist Bank. Truist Insurance Holdings operates more than 250 offices through its subsidiaries: McGriff Insurance Services, Inc.; CRC Insurance Services, Inc.; Crump Life Insurance Services, Inc.; AmRisc, LLC; and its Premium Finance companies (AFCO Credit Corporation, Prime Rate Premium Finance Corporation, Inc., and CAFO Inc.).