NEW YORK: Brasserie Cognac, the newest addition to the Serafina Restaurant Group, hired Rubenstein as AOR, effective June 10. Rubenstein previously worked with Serafina for the launch of Asian restaurant Geisha. The agency will oversee tastings for key food writers, getting recipes into national magazines, and organizing media appearances for executive chef Florian Hugo. Rubenstein was also recently chosen as the AOR for East Hampton restaurant The Laundry.

McLEAN, VA: InterAct Events hired SpeakerBox Communications as AOR, with work this year to focus on the InterAct2008 digital media conference to be held September 29-30 in Washington. Speakerbox will handle media outreach and other publicity for the conference.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ: MWW Group launched “No Drive Workdays,” to give employees the opportunity to work from home two days per month. The program is part of its “Take Charge, Initiate Change, Get Green” campaign to make the firm more environmentally conscious. The program also aims to help employees who, like all consumers, are saddled with skyrocketing gas prices.

WASHINGTON: Waltham, MA-based Racepoint Group opened a DC office staffed by three new hires: EVP David Whitmore and senior consultants Brian Lunde and Timothy Binning. Whitmore, the leader of the new office, was previously COO and CFO of Qorvis Communications, where he managed the firm’s work with Saudi Arabia. Among other PR and public affairs work, Lunde and Binning in 2004 cofounded HelpingAmericansVote.org.

NEW YORK: Kate Spade, a Liz Claiborne brand, hired Kyle Andrew as VP of brand marketing. Andrew will oversee PR, advertising, retail marketing, creative presentation, and creative services. Andrew joins Kate Spade from Kenneth Cole, where she was the SVP of marketing.

WASHINGTON: The US Coast Guard named Chris O’Neil chief of media relations at its headquarters in Washington. O’Neil previously served as a public affairs officer for the Coast Guard in Miami.

SAN FRANCISCO: Bite Communications named David Hargreaves its new GM of North America. Hargreaves previously worked as GM of Bite’s London office, overseeing EMEA. Burghardt Tenderich, Bite’s previous North American GM, stepped down in August 2007.

MINNEAPOLIS: Carmichael Lynch Spong hired Kelley Shoemaker as director of operations. Shoemaker, based at the agency’s Minneapolis office, was previously director of finance and human resources at Ultra Creative and financial analyst at Fleishman-Hillard.

NEW YORK: BusinessWeek named Carl R. Fischer IV vice president of communications and global brand development, effective April 7. Fischer, the former SVP at Robinson Lerer & Montgomery, will lead communications and PR efforts for the BusinessWeek brand.