Brendan Thomas is a Wiradjuri man. Appointed by the NSW Attorney General, Brendan commenced in his role as Chief Executive Officer of Legal Aid NSW in May 2017.

Prior to this Brendan was Deputy Secretary of the Department of Justice leading major criminal and civil justice reforms including reforms to sentencing, major reforms in the field of domestic violence, services to victims of crime and to Aboriginal communities, including Aboriginal Sentencing courts.

He has worked extensively on reforms to the management of criminal offenders, the introduction of restorative justice and community practices and led extensive work in the field of crime prevention. He founded the Design Out Crime Research Centre and served among other things on the Australian Criminology Research Council, The Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology, the Board of the NSW Crime Commission.