Digg on Tuesday announced that Amazon veteran Matt Williams has been hired as the site's new chief executive.

Most recently, Williams served as general manager for consumer payments at Amazon, and he previously worked on Amazon's community efforts. He joined Amazon in 1999 when the company purchased LiveBid.com, a company Williams founded.

Williams joins the Digg team just as the site is rolling out a major overhaul; a project that got off to somewhat of a rocky start.

"The launch of version 4 was a big moment for Digg and I believe in the potential of this new platform. There is so much innovation yet to come -- being the best in the world at curating news means solving the information overload we all experience every day," Williams said in a statement. "The Digg team has already made great strides in this direction and there is much more ahead. I'm excited to join such a talented team and such a vibrant Digg community."

Digg founder Kevin Rose has been serving as interim CEO and chairman since Jay Adelson resigned from that post in April. Rose said Tuesday that he will remain actively involved in Digg, but that Williams will handle the day-to-day running of the business.

"I know it has been a wild past week since the launch of our new platform. Introducing change is never easy, and bringing something as radically different as Digg version 4 was bound to generate a strong reaction," Rose wrote in a blog post. "We are absolutely listening and really value everyone's feedback as we take Digg in new directions. Matt is the right leader for Digg and we're all truly excited about moving forward."

For more details on the updated Digg, see PCMag's early preview of the site.