"I'm excited to have Brian, Nitasha and Michael coming in as the Observer continues to grow and expand its offerings," Ms. Spiers said. "They're all incredibly talented and I look forward to working with them."

Additionally, staff writer Reid Pillifant has been made a features editor, and online managing editor Aaron Gell will serve as executive editor.

Brian Thomas Gallagher began as a newspaper reporter at age 19. Since then, he has worked as a reporter/researcher at Vanity Fair, senior editor at the nonfiction quarterly Topic and freelance researcher on various books. In addition to the Observer, he has contributed pieces to New York, The New Yorker, This American Life, The New York Times Magazine, The Nation, Bookforum, n+1 and Vice. He was most recently managing editor of Gilt Groupe.

Nitasha Tiku has been writing for Daily Intel, covering technology and Wall Street. She also contributed pieces to New York magazine and TV recaps for Vulture. After graduating from j-school at NYU, she worked as a reporter for Inc. magazine covering start-ups, technology, and finance.

Michael H. Miller has freelanced for the Observer for the past year. He has covered books, art and music for NPR, The Village Voice, The Daily and others. He writes the Bookish column for thirteen.org.

editorial@observer.com