Fidelis Partnership promotes four to specialty line leadership roles

The Fidelis Partnershipb (TFP) has promoted four underwriters to head of business roles across its specialty platform as part of a broader leadership reshuffle.

Grahame Dawson has been appointed head of direct and facultative (D&F) London.

Mel Puskar becomes group head of credit for TFP.

Oliver Searles has been named head of energy, while Jamie Graham takes the role of head of cargo.

The company said the appointments strengthen its senior team and reflect the depth of underwriting talent across its risk allocator model.

Dawson joined TFP in 2022 after more than a decade at WTW.

Puskar has been with the firm for seven years and previously held roles at Genworth Financial and HSBC.

Searles joined from Marsh in 2024 and Graham joined the business the same year from Amwins.

The firm also announced a number of additional promotions across its underwriting platform.

Alex Burness has been promoted to senior underwriter in the property D&F team.

Alex Weiss Bueno becomes deputy head of asset backed finance and portfolio credit.

Bernard Straeter will take on the additional role of deputy active underwriter for Syndicate 2126 alongside his position as senior credit portfolio underwriter.

Daniel Turner has been appointed senior underwriter in the construction and renewable energy team.

Liva Petersone becomes senior underwriter in the firm’s Dublin office.

Michael Davern, UK CUO and group head of D&F property and energy at The Fidelis Partnership, said: “These promotions celebrate the exceptional talent within TFP while also reflecting the outstanding growth we have achieved across the specialty classes in which we operate.”

Davern added: “Our reputation for underwriting leadership is testament to both the strength and the speed of the creative, high-conviction decisions that our underwriters make for clients all day, every day, around the globe.”

He continued: “The success of those decisions and the quality of our people are the foundations on which TFP is built, and so it gives me great pleasure that we are a business that rewards achievements with recognition, progression and responsibility. I look forward to working closely with all of these colleagues to achieve our ambitious goals in the year ahead.”