James Casey Kenny, vice president of Kenny Construction Co., Wheeling, Ill., and president of Kenny Management Services, has been nominated by President Bush to be U.S. ambassador to Ireland. The nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, was announced July 8.

Kenny Construction, a family-owned-and-operated firm, was instrumental in helping Chicago cope with a 1992 flood. The firm was founded in 1927 by john J. Kenny and is now run by his five grandsons. The company’s high-profile projects include Chicago’s Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, the New Orleans airport and the cleanup of Boston Harbor.

Earlier in his career Kenny was appointed by Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar to the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Board, where the construction executive served on the expansion committee for the Navy Pier and McCormick Place.