A little bit about us

Our Leadership Team

Shana Hoffman, President and CEO
Shana Hoffman
President & CEO

Shana Hoffman is President & Chief Executive Officer of New Directions. Her background combines a unique understanding of the healthcare industry through her experience in Fortune 500, private equity-backed and early stage healthcare companies. Prior to joining New Directions, Shana served as both senior vice president of Corporate Transformation and Chief Operating Officer of the Tri-State Mid-Atlantic Region at Beacon Health Options. While in this role, she led client and provider operations for a region serving over 20 health plans and state direct customers and over nine million members. She improved operational performance for clients and the organization overall. more >

Before joining Beacon, Shana directed client development and growth efforts at Kyruus, a leader in provider search and scheduling solutions for hospitals and health systems. While there, she was instrumental in establishing key client relationships and developing go-to-market strategy. During her tenure, she increased revenue five-fold. Earlier in her career, Shana worked at DaVita Inc. in the corporate strategy group and began her career at Deloitte Consulting.

Shana graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

David Caloia
Senior Vice President, CFO

Dave joined New Directions in September 2020 as Chief Financial Officer, with executive responsibility for the company’s Finance, Facilities and Reporting & Analytics departments. In this role, he oversees all financial and business operations. Dave brought to this position more than 18 years of experience in financial and operational management and planning. more >

Prior to joining New Directions, Dave worked for TILT Holdings, a technology and infrastructure company, where he served as the Executive Vice President and CFO. He has also held roles at Beacon Health Options as Senior Vice President Financial Planning & Analysis and spent 15 years at General Electric in finance leadership roles including Corporate Audit, Segment FP&A Leader and Divisional CFO. His oversight and experience span financial planning and analysis, customer profitability, controllership, treasury, commercial finance, supply chain finance, real estate and procurement.

Dave has a bachelor’s degree in Finance & Operations Management from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. He is currently based in the Boston area.

David Caloia, Senior Vice President, CFO
Dr. Andrea Auxier, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Bernard DiCasimirro, D.O.
Chief Medical Officer

Dr. DiCasimirro joined New Directions Behavioral Health in 2018 and served as Vice President, Regional Medical Director before his promotion to Chief Medical Officer. more >

Prior to his position with New Directions, he was the Medical Director for PerformCare, the behavioral health arm of Amerihealth Caritas. He also spent over four years as an Associate Medical Director for Optum/United Healthcare. From 2002-2009, he was the primary psychiatric consultant for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Program Integrity working extensively with facility-based providers throughout the commonwealth. Dr. DiCasimirro’s experience also extends to correctional psychiatry culminating with a stint as The Statewide Psychiatric Director for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Dr. DiCasimirro has extensive clinical experience having worked in all levels of care in both psychiatry and substance use for more than twenty-five years. He is board certified in general psychiatry and licensed in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, District of Columbia, South Carolina, Louisiana and New Jersey.

Dr. DiCasimirro holds a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. He graduated with honors from Des Moines University where he obtained his D.O.

Kaitlyn Faris, MBA
Senior Vice President of Customer Success

Kaitlyn Faris joined New Directions in November 2020 as Senior Vice President of Customer Success, with responsibility for customer account management, strategic partnerships and executing customer strategy. more >

Prior to her position with New Directions, she was the Vice President of Partnerships at Aspire Health, an acquired subsidiary of Anthem. In this role, Kaitlyn was responsible for managing and cultivating national and large regional health plan partnerships and optimizing product performance and delivery. Kaitlyn has more than 12 years of business development and account strategy experience, including roles at Deloitte Consulting, The Chartis Group and Optum.

Kaitlyn obtained a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Macalester College and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. She is currently based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kaitlyn Faris, MBA
Lynn Merritt, Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer
Lynn Merritt
Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer

Lynn Merritt joined New Directions in June 2021 as Chief People Officer, and is responsible for serving as a key advisor, coach and colleague to the leadership team. She provides operational and strategic support as a proactive business partner to develop short and long-term goals and initiatives in alignment with the organization’s member-focused mission, values, goals and key metrics. more >

Prior to joining New Directions, Lynn was Chief Human Resources Officer for Healogics, where she provided strategic direction for all aspects of the HR function with responsibility for talent acquisition and development, employee relations, compensation and benefits and HR information systems and analytics. Lynn joined Healogics in 2015 as Vice President of Learning and Development.

Prior to her tenure at Healogics, Lynn served as Executive Director of Human Resources at Aetna, where she was responsible for providing HR leadership in all aspects of their commercial business and accountable for the creation of their HR analytics department. She also spent years at both Cigna and The Hartford, where she was responsible for employee training, the creation and management of leadership development programs and HR analytics.

Lynn earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of Hartford.

Ann O'Grady, LCSW
Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer

Ann O’Grady is the Chief Clinical Officer for New Directions Behavioral Health. In this role, Ann is responsible for the clinical, customer service and network operations departments. more >

Ann has two decades of experience managing risk business for large national customers. She has an organized, disciplined and data-driven approach with a focus on measurable outcomes. Ann sees promoting, developing and mentoring staff, managers and team members as one of her most rewarding roles.

Prior to joining New Directions in 2017, Ann worked for Beacon Health Options as the Clinical Director responsible for leading the clinical team where she developed and implemented strategic pilot programs and customer experience improvement initiatives.

Ann holds a master’s degree in social work with a clinical concentration from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree from Loyola College. She is a licensed clinical social worker and has Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean certifications.

Ann O'Grady, LCSW, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer
Brian Stenson, Chief Information Officer
Brian Stenson
Chief Information Officer

Brian Stenson joined New Directions in October 2020 as Chief Information Officer, responsible for strategy and vision, driving technology use to execute clinical, operational and financial goals. Brian brings more than 20 years of professional experience in operations and technology to New Directions. more >

Brian has experience optimizing operations, improving team performance, and driving accuracy and efficiency blending technology and business. Prior to accepting this position, he served as Assistant Vice President of Claims Operations at Beacon Health Options, where he was responsible for encounters management and claims EDI operations. Before his role at Beacon, Brian was the Senior Operations Director at Magellan Health, with oversight of the call center, claims, enrollment, provider data and contract/vendor management.

Brian attended Fairfield University and is currently based in the Boston area.

Our Approach

Improving health through change: that is our company mission and what each of our employees live by every day. For nearly 25 years, we’ve been helping people live healthier lives by focusing on the behavioral health of those we serve. Members receive care that is coordinated, focused on whole-person health and customized to fit the unique needs of the individual. We are committed to serving members, customers and providers with 24/7 support, reducing cost through active preventative solutions and delivering innovation through our unique clinical service infrastructure and technology-enabled solutions. New Directions delivers best-in-class services to over 16 million people nationwide. New Directions’ tremendous growth has been realized by creating a strategy and corporate culture focused on high-quality service, which has resulted in one of the fastest growing companies in the managed behavioral health industry.

Behavioral Health Services

Customized offerings meet members where they are and match the level of intervention to the members’ needs. Our clinical and network services are designed to get members the right care at the right time with the right providers. Our focus extends to social determinants of health, connecting members with community services and supports.

Integrated Care Services

Our focus on whole-person health is achieved using our unique integrated care approach. We integrate our behavioral health services with medical care managers and with our own EAP services to holistically address members’ needs.

Employee Assistance Program

New Directions provides individuals and families with services that empower them to live their best lives. Employees have access to counseling (many modalities are available), online resources, work-life solutions and more.

Student Well-Being Program

Our WellConnect student well-being program provides around-the-clock access to confidential counseling (many modalities are available) and support to address any academic or life issue for students.

We believe that together is the way forward. Through the power of partnerships, we can make a meaningful, lasting difference. Learn more about the history, programs and services available to help members improve health through positive change by checking out the NDBH Welcome video.

The history, programs and services available to help
members improve health through positive change.






URAC Accredited Case Management
URAC Accredited Health Utilization Management