Heritage Bank of Commerce, a subsidiary of Heritage Commerce Corp, appointed Susan Just executive vice president and chief credit officer, effective Sept. 7. She will replace Margo Butsch, who recently announced her retirement and has agreed to assist in the transition process.

“We are very grateful for Margo’s many years of service and her willingness to help support the transition,” Jones said. “We want to acknowledge her tremendous contributions to the bank and congratulate her on a well-deserved retirement.”

Just has nearly 30 years of credit administration expertise and was most recently the executive vice president and chief credit officer of Santa Cruz County Bank. Her credit background includes underwriting and administering commercial, commercial real estate, construction, asset-based, SBA and retail loans at JPMorgan Chase, First Chicago Bank & Trust, Northern Trust Bank and TCF Bank.

“We are thrilled to welcome Susan to the team,” Clay Jones, president and CEO of Heritage Bank of Commerce, said. “With Susan’s extensive credit, strategy, policy, administration and compliance background, she is the ideal person to help continue our tradition of strong credit administration practices.”

“I am honored to have been chosen to lead the credit risk function at Heritage Bank of Commerce, the Bay Area’s premier business bank with a history of strong and stable credit,” Just said. “I am excited to work with Clay and the talented team at Heritage, and together, we will build upon the solid existing foundation to achieve even greater success for the bank.”