MOME Division Heads

Kwame Amoaku, Deputy Commissioner for the Film Office

As Deputy Commissioner of the Film Office at the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Kwame Amoaku serves as principal advisor on film and television production policy in New York City. This includes promoting New York City as a premier location for production, developing and maintaining relationships with key industry stakeholders, and overseeing the film permitting process.

Prior to joining MOME in July 2022, he served as director of Chicago's Film Office. Amoaku's career in film and television spans 30 years, and includes experience in directing, producing, writing, cinematography, acting, and location management. As director of the Chicago Film Office, he helped develop COVID-19 protocols that allowed filming permits to be issued by June 2020 and served as part of the city's COVID Recovery Task Force, which invested in workforce development and infrastructure to increase soundstage capacity and revenues by 25 percent and film production by 125 percent. Amoaku also designed and implemented a workforce development program for Chicago residents from underserved areas and created the Chicago Independent Producers Lab, to provide professional development and support to Chicago's independent film community.

Karen Johnson, General Manager, NYC Media

Karen Johnson is the General Manager of NYC Media, the official broadcast network, and media production group of the City of New York. With over 30+ years of experience in film and television production, Johnson oversees and manages the day-to-day operations, program development, partnerships, and production, regulatory compliance and reporting, broadcast engineering and operations, and staffing.

Johnson oversees the network’s in-house original productions, which includes award-winning series Once Upon a City, Her Big Idea, Blueprint and Inform NYC, and has served as the production supervisor and liaison for other City agencies on important initiatives including 3k, PreK, Breakfast in the Classroom for the Department of Education; American Sign Language Direct Access for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities; and the ID NYC and Heritage campaigns for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

Before joining NYC Media in 2012, Johnson worked for 22 years in production at the American Broadcasting Corporation. She was the first person of color to produce ABC’s nationally distributed daytime drama, All My Children. Ms. Johnson is a member of the Directors Guild of America and has won both national and local Emmys for producing, directing, and editing. She has a Bachelor of Science in Film from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Alia Jones-Harvey, Associate Commissioner of Education and Workforce Development

Alia Jones-Harvey is the Associate Commissioner of Workforce Development and Educational Initiatives for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment (MOME). She joined the office in 2015 as director of education & workforce development. By successfully building partnerships with employers, unions, non-profit organizations, schools, and City agencies, Jones-Harvey has launched educational and training programs that have served over 20,000 New Yorkers across film, tv, music, theater, publishing, and advertising.

Jones-Harvey oversees Creative Sector Programs, a division of MOME that invests in educational and workforce programs including: “Made in NY” Production Assistant Training, “Made in NY” Post Production Training, “Made in NY” Animation Training, “Made in NY” Stagecraft Bootcamp, “Made in NY” Career Talks, MediaMKRS, Sound Thinking NYC, Dreaming Out Loud, NY Music Month, the NY Public School Film Festival, the NYC Video Game Festival, the Freelancers Hub and college degree programs. Creative Sector Programs produces or sponsors many festivals, industry and community events across the five boroughs including: JanArts, “Movies Under the Stars,” Film Green initiatives, Drama Bookshop programming, and disability access programs; and, publishes industry studies, and manages mayoral industry councils. In addition, Jones-Harvey leads the campaign in digital games to develop an equity-centered talent pipeline, engage employers, establish strategic partnerships, and grow the industry in New York City.

Prior to her work with the City of New York, Jones-Harvey and her producing partner were the only two African American lead producers on Broadway and London’s West End. Jones-Harvey is credited with producing 10 plays and 10 musicals with a focus on diverse talent, company, management, and investment. She is an Olivier Award-winning and 5-time Tony Award-nominated Theatre Producer.

Samer Nasser, Executive Director, Press Credentials Office

Samer Nasser is the Executive Director of the Press Credentials Office (PCO) at the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME). A native New Yorker and first-generation Arab American, Nasser has over two decades of experience working in broadcast journalism. Before MOME, Nasser served as National News Producer at ViacomCBS' most highly rated news programs, International News Editor at Al Jazeera America, and Business News Desk Manager at Fox Business Network. She holds a BA in Journalism and Education from New York University, and an MBA in Media Management and Marketing from Fordham University.