About Our Team

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Shawn Thomas- Founder and CEO

Jeff Thomas- Executive Director

Shawn is a deputy for the King County Sheriff's Office in Seattle, WA. Shawn has been a deputy for 24 years and Jeff recently retired  from the King County Sheriff's Office after 32 years.

In September 2016, Shawn's peer support captain suggested she organize a health and wellness conference for first responders and their families. The conference was a huge success and first responders reached out for assistance. That is when Shawn realized how important the conference was and other department's and organizations asked for her to organize a conference for them. In the first year they organized five conferences in Seattle, North Carolina, Florida, Texas and Arizona. Now they have had twenty-five conferences and have many more planned in the coming year. Shawn and Jeff are passionate about helping first responders because they have experienced their own difficult times and want to help guide others so they can maintain an enjoyable career and live a healthy life. 

Please feel free to contact us if you are in need of confidential assistance. We are here to help refer you to any resources you may need.

shawnt@1stresponderconferences.org

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.

Social Media Coordinator

Matt started his career in public safety in January of 2009. He started working in the Gooding County Jail where he was a certified Detention Deputy with the State of Idaho. Matt worked with Gooding County for five years. During that time he was promoted to Corporal and also was a Patrol Reserve Officer for the Shoshone City Police Department. Matt then left the Gooding County Sheriff's office and started his career in emergency communications. He started working with the Southern Idaho Regional Communications Center as a emergency 911 dispatcher. During his time with SIRCOMM, Matt was also a patrol reserve officer for Wendell City Police Department and a patrol reserve for the Jerome County Sheriff's Office.  About a year later Matt went to work for the City of Twin Falls as a emergency dispatcher. During his time with the City of Twin Falls Communication Center he implemented their Tactical Dispatch team and became one of the only few Tactical Dispatchers in the Magic Valley. Matt has worked numerous SWAT call-outs and was utilized in many high stress incidents. After working for the City of Twin Falls, Matt went on to become the Deputy Director of SIRCOMM in May of 2018. After working in the role for close to a year Matt separated from SIRCOMM and has turned his focus to help raise his two daughters. Matt has been married to his wife Shilah for the last 7 years and they have two beautiful daughters Harleigh and Abigail. They are expecting their third daughter as well. Matt now spends his time to help market and spread awareness in the seriousness of PTSD in first responders and veterans. 

matt@1stresponderconferences.org

In Loving Memory

1st Responder Conferences is saddened by the passing this week of our accountant Sue Gottbreht.  She will be dearly missed.

Sue is the mother of Shawn Thomas the founder of 1st Responder Conferences. Sue also has two grandsons.  

Sue Gottbreht was a retired accounting manager from a transportation company in Seattle.  Sue became involved as a volunteer for the 1st Responder Conferences from its inception.  Although Sue did not have a 1st responder working background, she was not unfamiliar with police work. She has several friends who are retired police officers, her daughter is a deputy  and son-in-law is a retired deputy. 

Sue also enjoyed other volunteer work as well.  She was a member of Soroptimist International which is a global volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment. She was also an advocate for ovarian cancer research and part of Survivors Teaching Students at Gonzaga University.