Debra Markowitz

Debra Markowitz created and served as Director of the Nassau County Film Office. the Nassau County Film Commission, as well as the Nassau County Film Advisory Board, and chaired as its Executive Director. Serving four administrations during her 33-year tenure, Ms. Markowitz has steadily increased production of movies, television programs and commercials that are shot in Nassau County, logging over 1,400 production days and over $150M in positive economic impact. Ms. Markowitz also serves as President of the Long Island Film/TV Foundation, Long Island's most established and largest not-for-profit agency dedicated to the support and promotion of independent filmmaking. Under her directorship, the Foundation spawned the Long Island International Film Expo in 1998. The event enjoys enormous popularity, attracting short and feature-length independent films from around the world, spotlighting films made on Long Island and concluding with a star-studded award celebration. The Long Island International Film Expo fosters a world-wide burgeoning film community and is noted for such. Debra Markowitz is also a freelance writer and novelist. Her latest novels are her Karmic Wind Trilogy (Naked in the Rain, Sarah and Caleb, and concluding with Karmic Wind) Ms. Markowitz's name can be found on the Long Island Press' Power List, 50 Long Islanders Who Control Our Lives (2003 and 2012); Beverly Fortune's 52 (2006); as the recipient of the prestigious George M. Estabrook Alumni Award for Distinguished Service (Hofstra University, 2011) and the 2012 Long Island Arts Council honoree as its Outstanding Advocate for the Arts. An enthusiastic fellow filmmaker, Ms. Markowitz is an award-winning writer, director, producer and casting director on movie, television and commercial projects. Debra Markowitz, an avid practitioner of yoga is also a Reiki Master. She lives on Long Island with her husband, John Marean, and their rescue dog.