Neil Kornze moves up from deputy director to director's job at BLM WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. President Obama Tuesday nominated Neil Kornze to be director of the Bureau of Land Management where he has been principal deputy director. Kornze's appointment requires Senate approval. He would succeed Robert Abbey, who retired in May after leading the land management agency since 2009. Kornze joined the agency, which manages more than 245 million acres of public land nationwide and has a $1.1 billion budget with 10,250 employees, in January 2011 as a senior adviser to the director. Previously, he was a senior policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.