Executive team

Octávio brings 38 years of impressive energy industry experience to Tellurian’s remarkable infrastructure team. Previously, he was President and CEO of Sempra LNG & Midstream where he was responsible for all LNG and natural gas midstream activities in Sempra’s efforts to develop, build and operate liquefied natural gas (LNG) receipt terminals, liquefaction facilities, natural gas pipelines and storage facilities. He led the company's efforts at Cameron LNG, Energia Costa Azul LNG and Port Arthur LNG, where he focused on reliability of deliveries to customers, safety and gas sourcing strategies that assure reliable production of LNG. Octávio has deep relationships in the LNG market and an unmatched tenacity for developing new projects.

Prior responsibilities include business development, acquisitions, engineering and construction, operations and asset management in power generation, as well as financial and strategic planning, Activities covered various markets in all continents. Simões has degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and from the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Massachusetts. Simões is a native of Lisbon, Portugal.

Samik Mukherjee joined Tellurian in May 2022 as EVP and President Driftwood Assets including pipelines, LNG production and export terminal. With over thirty years of energy industry experience, most recently serving as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of McDermott International, Ltd. where he was responsible for global operations, assets management, commercial, digital and energy transition. Samik brings many years of proven experience and leadership in LNG, Petrochemicals and Offshore projects and operations. During his time at McDermott, Samik was responsible for the project execution of five LNG projects with over 60 MTPA of LNG liquefaction capacity.

Samik holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) at Erasmus University in the Netherlands and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. He completed the Harvard Business School Executive Program on Aligning and Executing Strategy and is currently an Advisory Panel Member at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business.

Daniel joined Tellurian in October 2016 and serves as General Counsel. Daniel served at Cheniere Energy, Inc. as Vice President, Tax and General Tax Counsel, Tax Director and Domestic Tax Counsel. Daniel began his career in public accounting after he received his Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Accounting from Texas A&M University.  He then went on to obtain his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law and his LL.M. from the Georgetown University Law Center. Daniel is currently affiliated with the American Bar Association, Houston Bar Association and also serves on the Board of Governors at the University of Kansas School of Law.

John Howie has over three decades of experience managing and investing in upstream energy assets, deploying ~$2 Bn in equity and debt across 80 + companies and projects. He was most recently president of Impact Natural Resources, a private upstream company with production in the Gulf Coast and Permian Basin and evaluations in select North American basins. He was a Founder of Parallel Resource Partners and a member of Board of Managers and the Investment committee of the $700 million private equity fund. He led Goldman Sachs E&P Capital, a staff of technical and financial professionals, investing over $1 Billion in upstream opportunities. He served as a Managing Director at EnCap Investments and held engineering, finance and management positions with Range Resources, Apache, and Amoco. John has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from New Mexico State and is a Professional Engineer in the state of Texas, member of Society of Petroleum Engineers, The Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers and the Houston Producers Forum.

Tarek Souki joined Tellurian as Senior Vice President - LNG Marketing and Trading in August 2016. Since joining, he has created the marketing team tasked with commercializing the Driftwood Project.  Additionally, Tarek has overseen the build out of Tellurian’s LNG trading group. Prior to Tellurian, Tarek was VP of Finance and Business Development at Cheniere Marketing in charge of finance for the marketing and trading group.  He also led the build out of the middle and back office functions for Cheniere’s trading desk.  Before Cheniere, Tarek spent 14 years working in the banking industry, including most recently at Credit Suisse in New York and London. There he specialized in corporate and project finance for the resources sector.  He holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and a BA in Economics from the University of California, Irvine.

Joi joined Tellurian in 2016 and serves as Executive Vice President – Public and Government Affairs. In this capacity, she is responsible for communication, including public relations and media, as well as federal and state government affairs. Joi brings 35 years of communication experience in several industries, including oil and gas, banking and consulting, and has conducted business in 19 countries on six continents. Previous employers include Mercer, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and BG Group plc. Before joining Tellurian, she was the Owner, Founder and President of TopDog Communication and Development, L.L.C. She graduated With Distinction from the University of Nebraska, majoring in Journalism and Communication.

Margery (Margie) Harris is an accomplished leader, having worked in both industry and consulting leading Human Resource change initiatives. Ms. Harris joined Tellurian in 2017 to establish and lead the human resources function. She has held leadership positions at several large Fortune 500 companies including Apache Corporation where she held the position of Executive Vice President of Human Resources of Apache Corporation, Texas Genco, a wholesale electrical power generation company where she established the human resources group. She also headed the human resources groups at Integrated Electrical Services, a national electrical contracting company and Santa Fe Snyder, an independent exploration and production company. 

She serves on the alumni board and the Dean’s advisory council of the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and serves as a Board of Director of the alumni board of The Ohio State University. Local Houston outreach includes her service on the Boards of the University of St. Thomas and the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. She was recently appointed as an adjunct faculty member of the Mays School, at the University of Texas A&M.

Ms. Harris holds a bachelor's degree with honors in finance from The Ohio State University. She also earned an MBA from the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas.