Senior Vice President

Neil Kornze is a Senior Vice President at Cassidy & Associates. For the past two decades, Neil has worked on the nation’s most vital conservation, land, wildlife, and energy issues from Capitol Hill, the Department of the Interior, and the philanthropic world. Most recently, he served as chief of staff to U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO). During the Obama Administration, Neil was the senate-confirmed Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the nation’s largest natural resource agency.

During his time at the BLM, Neil oversaw the authorization of the largest wind and solar energy projects in North America, in addition to major additions to the nation’s transmission grid. He also led the agency’s efforts to protect sacred and sensitive public lands across the West, including Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and key areas in California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington state. 

While working for U.S. Senate for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Neil served as lead staff for the development and passage of the landmark law, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which protected more than 1,000 miles of river and designated wilderness in nine different states. 

Additionally, Neil spent four years as the CEO of two west coast philanthropies, the Campion Foundation and Campion Advocacy Fund, where he worked on expanding access to housing as a solution to homelessness and the conservation of public lands as an essential tool for addressing climate change.

Neil holds degrees from Whitman College and the London School of Economics. He was a founding board member and vice chairman of the Foundation for America’s Public Lands. Neil lives in Washington, DC with his wife and two young sons.