SF Chronicle names new biz editor

Marcus Chan, the technology editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, has taken on the additional responsibilities of business editor for the paper.

He replaces Suzanne Herel, who had been business editor for less than a year and is returning to being an assistant business editor. Herel asked to step down from the position, and the transition has been handled professionally, according to a source at the paper.

Chan says he “has some things in the works” for the business news desk, but he wasn’t prepared to discuss them yet.

Chan had been multimedia and database editor at the paper from January 2006 to October 2009, when he became technology editor. He had also been technology editor at the paper from January 2005 to December 2005. He gets high marks from reporters and colleagues at the paper for his line editing and for pushing the paper into new media.

Chan, a graduate of Whitworth University, is also a new media lecturer at San Francisco State University.

Herel had also previously overseen the paper’s technology coverage. She has spent the better part of 18 years in the newspaper business and for the past 10 has been employed by Hearst, starting at the old Examiner. Most recently, she created The Chronicle’s Continuous News Desk and ran it for more than two years before jumping into the fray in the business section.