Mary E. Junck, the CEO of newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises Inc., was named chairman of The Associated Press board of directors Thursday.

Junck is replacing William Dean Singleton of MediaNews Group, who had been AP chairman since 2007. She said one of her top priorities will be the search for a new chief executive to replace Tom Curley, who announced Monday that he plans to retire this year after almost nine years leading AP.

As chairman, Junck will help steer the AP’s efforts to boost revenue, in part by further expanding the cooperative’s video, Internet and mobile services. She will take over as chairman in April, after the AP’s annual meeting.

“Making good, smart bets on the digital future is the direction we’ll keep going,” she said in an interview. “Tom has built a terrific foundation. The other thing he has done is work collaboratively in our industry. I see that going forward as well.”

The AP, founded in 1846, is the largest independent source of news and information in the world. The not-for-profit organization, owned by newspapers in the U.S., said it expects revenue for 2011 to be down slightly from a year earlier, when it was $631 million.

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