He was recognized by the White House during the Obama-Biden Administration for community engagement in law enforcement and public safety.

A serial entrepreneur, Allen co-founded healthcare technology startup IQMax, which grew to service 160 medical facilities in 36 states, processing 18 million patient records per day.

He successfully petitioned the Council of Governments for funding and authored the Eastern North Carolina Source Guide to Scholarships and Grants which was published for several years and sent to high school students across the state.

Thomas returned to Greenville, and in 2003 he was hired as a consultant by East Carolina University where he developed and created the "Purple Alert" system.

He was appointed as Commissioner by Governor Beverly Perdue to the 3-person panel overseeing the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

[7] Thomas was a candidate for Congress in the 2019 North Carolina's 3rd congressional district special election, held after former representative Walter B. Jones Jr. died in office.

On April 30, 2019, he won the Democratic primary and advanced to the September 10 general election, but lost to State Representative Greg Murphy, the Republican nominee.