Board Members
Kristin Tugman, PhD, CRC, LPC
Dr. Tugman has been in the health and productivity and workplace mental health industries for over
25 years. Her consulting work with employers focuses on helping them implement solutions that
maximize productivity and minimize absence as well as design and implement comprehensive
wellness programs that support a psychologically healthy workplace.
Dr. Tugman is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor by training and a Licensed Professional Counselor.
Dr. Tugman graduated from Georgia State University with a master’s degree in rehabilitation
counseling and earned a PhD in industrial and organizational psychology from Capella University.
She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern Maine and Pacific Coast University for
Workplace Health Sciences. She was previously adjunct at Penn State University and University of
Tennessee, Chattanooga.
Dr. Tugman’s research focus is the psychology of disability and return to work as well as workplace
and community mental health. Kristin also serves on the board of the American Foundation of
Suicide Prevention, Maine Chapter and is President and co-founder of Community Action for Mental
Health, a local Maine non-profit focused on raising awareness, reducing stigma and improving access
to mental health care.
Carrie Bibens, MBA
Carrie Bibens is a senior executive with more than 20 years of experience leading transformation, operational excellence, and organizational effectiveness across Employee Benefits, Disability, Leave, Accommodations, and Shared Services organizations. She currently serves as Senior Director, Shared & Professional Services at OneAmerica Financial, where she leads functions focused on quality, appeals, compliance, policy and procedure governance, training, and clinical-vocational services.
Throughout her career, Carrie has specialized in building scalable operating models, strengthening governance frameworks, and creating sustainable processes that improve quality, reduce risk, and enhance both employee and customer experiences. Her expertise spans disability and leave management, workplace accommodations, quality assurance, process excellence, workforce planning, enterprise compliance, and organizational transformation.
Prior to joining OneAmerica Financial, Carrie held leadership roles with Sun Life, Lincoln Financial Group, and Unum, where she developed and led programs supporting disability operations, workplace accommodations, vocational services, quality assurance, policy governance, and operational improvement initiatives. Throughout her career, she has partnered closely with HR, Legal, Compliance, Technology, Risk, and executive leadership teams to solve complex business challenges and drive enterprise-wide change.
Carrie earned a Master of Business Administration with a leadership focus from Saint Joseph's College of Maine and completed studies in Human Resource Management through University of Southern Maine. She is a Certified Mental Health First Aider and formerly held the Certified Rehabilitation Counselor credential.
Beyond her professional leadership, Carrie serves as a Board Member for Community Action For Mental Health, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness, reducing stigma, and improving access to mental health care. She is also a published contributor on topics related to disability, return-to-work outcomes, and workforce effectiveness.
Carrie is passionate about helping organizations align people, processes, and strategy to create high-performing cultures, operational excellence, and sustainable business results.
Anne Dionne
Anne Dionne has called Gorham home for more than 20 years, where she raised two daughters who attended Gorham schools. Throughout that time, Anne has been an active community volunteer, supporting Gorham schools and youth programs, the Gorham Education Foundation and Helping Paws of Maine. She currently volunteers with Junior Achievement of Maine, bringing financial literacy programming to students in Gorham’s elementary schools.
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Professionally, Anne has built her career in the disability and life insurance industry, where she has also served in an advisory capacity for workplace mental health initiatives, helping to enhance benefits and programs, provide training, and increase mental health awareness.
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Anne’s commitment to mental health advocacy is deeply personal. After losing a loved one to suicide in 2011, she became increasingly aware of how broadly mental health challenges touch individuals, families, and communities. Since then, she has been a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
She is passionate about creating a community where conversations about mental health are welcomed, people feel comfortable asking for help, and everyone can access the support they need.
Jim Karcanes, Ed.D., MBA
Jim brings to the board a rare combination of clinical-adjacent expertise in performance psychology, executive management experience, and a personal understanding of what it takes to ask for help and recover.
Dr. Karcanes holds a Doctor of Education in Sport and Performance Psychology from Western States University and an MBA from Syracuse University. He also earned a Master of Education in Kinesiology and Physical Education from the University of Maine, a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Houghton College.
He currently serves as the Mental Performance Coach and an Assistant Professor in the Exercise, Sport, and Health Science Department for the University of Southern Maine, where he works directly with student-athletes navigating mental health concerns alongside the performance pressures of collegiate competition. A central part of that work is mindfulness instruction — a practice Jim first turned to himself. After using mindfulness to overcome symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, he now teaches those same skills to USM student-athletes, modeling openly that seeking help is a sign of strength rather than weakness.
Jim served as a career officer in the United States Army, completing four deployments, two of them combat tours. He was awarded two Bronze Star Medals for combat service in Iraq, commanded a field artillery battery of 86 soldiers during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and led an 11-man military transition team training an Iraqi Army infantry unit during Surge Operations.
His service to others extends well beyond uniform and campus. James has volunteered as a crisis hotline responder with CONTACT and as a volunteer chaplain at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. He founded two charity road races supporting educational scholarships for the children of fallen Maine soldiers. As a Mental Health First Responder, Jim assists anyone in crisis find the mental health support and resources they need.
Jim resides in Gorham, Maine with his spouse Christine and their two sons, Tristan and Keegan.
