Santa Cruz County Bank, today announced Susan Just has joined the bank as Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer.

Ms. Just has an extensive background in commercial lending, structured finance, and credit risk management, including loan review, regulatory compliance, and ALLL. She has held senior credit roles at major banks across the country including JPMorgan Chase, Northern Trust, and Bank of Montreal. Ms. Just’s 30-year career includes credit portfolio management of loan portfolios up to $8.5 billion.

Early in her career, with JPMorgan Chase and its predecessor organizations, Ms. Just established herself as a proficient underwriter of commercial, corporate, and securitized transactions, taking on roles of increasing responsibility and managing multi-billion-dollar transactions. Following her 17-year tenure at JPMorgan, Ms. Just changed her focus to community banking and broader credit risk management. She served as Senior Credit Officer at First Chicago Bank & Trust, a $1.1 billion community bank, and was responsible for integrating and streamlining the credit functions of its merged predecessor banks. At Northern Trust, Ms. Just managed Loan Review and led the Global Compliance Testing functions. She also served as the lead credit officer responsible for the $8.5 billion retail credit portfolio at TCF Bank. More recently, Ms. Just managed the ALLL function at Bank of Montreal, and during the pandemic worked as a credit portfolio manager for a new financial technology firm.

Ms. Just obtained her MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University with concentrations in Finance and Strategy, and her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Loyola University of Chicago with a concentration in Marketing.

Commenting on her new appointment, Ms. Just stated, “Santa Cruz County Bank is known in the industry as a well-managed bank with exceptional financial ratings. I’m honored to join the executive team and look forward to contributing to the bank’s growth and continued success. As a former competitive sailor, I am drawn to the Monterey Bay area and am very excited to become part of the local community.”

Krista Snelling, President and CEO commented, “We are excited to welcome Susan as Chief Credit Officer and as a valued member of our Executive team. Susan’s extensive background in credit risk, her well rounded experience in portfolio management and knowledge in regulatory compliance are essential for managing the increasing complexity of a loan portfolio for a growing bank of our size. We look forward to Susan’s contributions to the Bank and the communities we serve.”

Ms. Just is based out of the Bank’s headquarters in Santa Cruz.

ABOUT SANTA CRUZ COUNTY BANK

Santa Cruz County Bank was founded in 2004. It is a top-rated, locally-owned and operated, full-service community bank headquartered in Santa Cruz, California. The bank has eight branches–Aptos, Capitola, Cupertino, Monterey, Santa Cruz (2), Scotts Valley and Watsonville. Santa Cruz County Bank is distinguished from "big banks" by its relationship-based service, problem-solving focus and direct access to decision makers. The bank is a leading SBA lender in Santa Cruz County and Silicon Valley and a top USDA lender in the state of California. As a full-service bank, Santa Cruz County Bank offers competitive deposit and lending solutions for businesses and individuals; including business loans, lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction lending, agricultural loans, SBA and USDA government guaranteed loans, credit cards, merchant services, remote deposit capture, mobile and online banking, bill payment and treasury management. True to its community roots, Santa Cruz County Bank has supported regional well-being by actively participating in and donating to local not-for-profit organizations.

Santa Cruz County Bank stock is publicly traded on the OTCQX marketplace under the symbol SCZC. Stock purchase orders may be placed online, through a brokerage firm, or through Market Makers listed in the Investor Relations section of the bank’s website. For more information about Santa Cruz County Bank, visit www.sccountybank.com.