Mary Junck — chairman, president and CEO of Lee Enterprises and chair of the board of directors of The Associated Press — headlined a Women in Media Leadership Series talk on Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. in the Carroll Hall auditorium at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
Junck, a 1971 master's graduate of the school, joined Lee in 1999 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. She became president in 2000, chief executive officer in 2001 and chairman in 2002. Lee Enterprises — a media company based in Davenport, Iowa — provides local news, information and advertising in primarily midsize markets, with 50 daily newspapers, digital products and nearly 300 specialty publications in 23 states.
Lee Enterprises is among the news organizations in which Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is invested.
Junck previously held senior executive positions at the former Times Mirror Company. As executive vice president of Times Mirror and president of Times Mirror Eastern Newspapers, she was responsible for Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, The Morning Call, Southern Connecticut Newspapers and a magazine division.
From 1993 to 1997, Junck was publisher and chief executive officer of The Baltimore Sun. She began her career with Knight Ridder at The Charlotte Observer in 1972 and advanced to assistant advertising director at the Miami Herald, assistant to the Knight Ridder senior vice president of operations, and to publisher and president of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
She is a native of Ogden, Iowa. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Valparaiso University in Indiana.