Dr Steve Thomas has a thirty-five-year history in the Southwest of Western Australia, with seventeen years spent in veterinary practice and fifteen and a half years dedicated to managing his own veterinary hospital in Donnybrook. He also has a near ten-year history in health service administration in the Southwest of Western Australia.  

In the mid-1990s Steve was the Chairman of the Donnybrook Health Service Board, the Wellington Health Council and Southwest Health Forum. In these roles he was the head of a Statutory Government Authority in charge of human health service delivery, and as Chair of the Southwest Health Forum he oversaw the roll out of an annual budget in excess of $100 million. In his role as Chairman of the Southwest Health Forum he was also Chair of the strategic planning committee which authored the Southwest Strategic Health Plan.