Darryl Wm. Thomas began his professional career with the State of Illinois as a Transportation Rate Auditor with the Illinois Commerce Commission in 1991. In 1994 he joined the Illinois Department of Commerce to assist in establishing the First Stop Business Information Center, a single statewide business regulatory requirement and assistance program information repository. In 2006, he became the Program Manager for First Stop. During his tenure he modernized their call center with such innovations as a cloud-based CRM (customer relation management) system, and a web-based knowledgebase that allowed clients to access business information on a self-serve basis.

In 2016 he became the Illinois Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), Program Manager, responsible for administering the State’s cooperative agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency. Darryl oversees their statewide program which has 9 PTACs with 12 locations throughout the state. In March of 2019 Darryl was elected to serve as President-Elect of the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) and in March 2020 he assumed the responsibilities of President.

Darryl is a graduate of Western Illinois University, an ordained teacher with the Pentecostal Churches of the Apostolic Faith and is extremely active in the Springfield, Illinois community. Darryl and Cynthia, his wife of over 29 years have 4 children. Lauren a 4th grade elementary school teacher, Christina, a human resource coordinator for an international engineering firm, Gabrielle, a nursing student and Darryl Josiah, a sophomore in high school, honor student, and athlete.