Online pioneer Merrill Brown will use his experience online and off to help participatory news service NowPublic as the new chairman of the board. He will work with CEO Leonard Brody and the rest of the executive team at the Vancouver company in a move being hailed by at least one staffer at the company as a sign that they’ve hit the big time. Not so sure about that—it is still a start-up—but Brown, the founding editor in chief of MSNBC.com,  certainly carries weight in the online news business. Release.
—The announcement coincides with the site’s re-launch—and with the We Media conference now going on in Miami.