For Herb Thomas, founder of Kairos Fiduciary Services, serving as a trustee for Special Needs Trusts and Settlement Trusts is more than a job or career. It is a calling that holds a personal significance since he has a child diagnosed with special needs. Herb understands what parents and people who are injured need to consider as they move forward in their lives. Herb has years of expertise in Special Needs Trust and Settlement Trust administration in the state of California and nationwide as well as a depth of experience in Conservatorships, Public Benefits Advocacy, and Probate Estate Administration.
Herb is a California Licensed Professional Fiduciary (CLPF), with license number #86—meaning he was one of the first 100 people in California to earn the authority to serve as a professional fiduciary. He is a frequent speaker at conferences such as the Academy of Special Needs Planners (ASNP), the Professional Fiduciary Association of California (PFAC), and the California SNT Symposium. He is also the co-author of chapter 15 “Setting Up Systems for Efficient SNT Administration” in the well-received book, Administering the California Special Needs Trust: A Guide for Trustees and Those Who Advise Them. Before opening a fiduciary practice, Herb served as the Benefits Advocate for Kaiser Permanente’s very first Community Benefits Advocacy program, where he worked with the complex labyrinth of public and private benefits to subsidize cost of member care. Herb also worked with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for 7 years as taxpayer delinquency investigator.
Herb holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences from San Francisco State University, and he has served on the boards of a variety of non-profit organizations including Behavioral Intervention for Autism (BIA4Autism) and Legal Assistance for Seniors. Herb is married and the father of three children. In his free time, Herb loves spending time with family and friends. The family loves to travel together and have visited Russia, Brazil, the African continent, Western Europe, and a great many beaches throughout Hawaii. He is an avid foodie, a novice astronomer, and enjoys tinkering with and repairing electrical and mechanical gadgets.