About Our Team

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Shawn Thomas- Founder and CEO

Jeff Thomas- Executive Director 

Shawn is the founder of 1st Responder Conferences and a retired deputy from the King County Sheriff's Office in Seattle, WA. She worked for the King County Sheriff’s Office for 25 years. Shawn retired as a Wellness and Resiliency Detective and a therapy K9 handler.  During her career, Shawn worked patrol, as an undercover detective, a detective in the warrant unit, transit patrol and as an explosive K9 handler. She was also on the peer support team for 16 years and was a team lead for several of those. 

shawnt@1stresponderconferences.org

Jeff Thomas is a retired deputy for the King County Sheriff's Office.  He worked for the King County Sheriff's Office for 32 years.  Jeff worked in many units throughout his career, which includes an 18 year stint as a member of the entry unit on the county SWAT team.  Jeff has held several training positions within the sheriff’s office to include Field Training Officer, Firearms Instructor, State qualified Swat instructor, Motor Instructor, as well as a Taser Instructor.  He also was a member of the King County Honor Guard for 16 years.  Jeff is the co-founder of First Responder Conferences and supports Shawn with her passion to support our Everyday Heroes! 

jeff@1stresponderconferences.org

Amanda Brumbaugh- Assistant Director

Amanda is a State of Idaho Elevator and Building Safety Inspector, Wife of a Garden City Police Detective, Mother of two wonderful daughters and a Navy Veteran.  Her family is a very proud Navy family with five generations including her oldest daughter who currently serves. 

Amanda constantly volunteers throughout her community by serving on a variety of non-profit boards, giving her time to organizations that serve our local and national Law Enforcement, Military and Veteran communities, Birds of Prey and Dog Rescues. She also serves her church community in a variety of leadership roles.

In 2018, Amanda was presented the Lt Governor’s Award for Idaho’s Brightest Stars which is awarded “for exemplary volunteer service in the State of Idaho and fostering an ethic of service in others”.

Besides volunteering and helping others, Amanda is a longtime quilter and currently most of her quilts are donated to various organizations including Quilts for Cops, Treasure Valley Blue Star Mothers, and the local International Rescue Mission through her church quilt group.

Amanda states, “I truly believe I get back way more than I give, when I volunteer my time and talents!”

Amanda@1stresponderconferences.org

Executive Assistant

Nicole Stevenson is an LPN at St. Luke’s Health System in Twin Falls, Idaho.  Prior to nursing, she was an administrative assistant for a railroad company.  Nicole is also a volunteer for her local police department helping with community events and keeping the equipment/supply room organized.  She attended her first conference in Twin Falls in 2019 and joined the team as a volunteer shortly after attending. Her current position with first responder conferences allows her to help with all aspects of the conferences.

Nicole@1stresponderconferences.org

Volunteer

Jae works as a Community Corrections Officer with the Department of Corrections (DOC) in Spokane WA.  Jae is apart of the Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM), where she helps provide support to employees involved in critical incidents.  She previously worked as a mental health clinician with Frontier Behavioral Health, accompanying police on patrol and assisting residents experiencing a mental health crisis.  Jae graduated from the University of the Pacific, and holds a BS in Psychology.  She also volunteers for the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) and the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to help out her community. When not volunteering, Jae enjoys spending time with family and friends and spending time outdoors.