Conference Host: Nate Miley

Nate Miley was first elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors representing District 4 in November 2000 and is currently serving his sixth term representing portions of the City of Oakland and the City of Pleasanton, as well as Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland, El Portal Ridge, Fairmont Terrace, Fairview and Hill Crest Knolls. In January 2023, he was appointed President by his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors, this is the second time that Supervisor Miley has served in this capacity during his tenure on the Board.

Throughout his time in elected office, Supervisor Miley has fought to protect open space, strengthen our healthcare system, and create more livable and safe neighborhoods, while improving transportation, agriculture and urban farming, air quality, healthcare, public safety, and social services. Supervisor Miley authored legislation to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable by creating nation’s first no-cost drug disposal ordinance, championed the successful passage of Measure A which raises $100 million annually to support vital health care programs within Alameda County and worked to ensure that communities have a voice within local government.

Conference Announcer: Erin Armstrong

Erin Armstrong has a successful track record of tackling the most complex and challenging problems facing the Bay Area, with experience in addressing illegal dumping, police oversight, housing, homelessness and more. She has an MBA/MPP from Mills College in Oakland and is the Senior Policy Advisor to Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley. In 2019 she helped to launch the Alameda County Illegal Dumping (ACID) Pilot; a cross-sector collaborative aimed at identifying and implementing best practices to address illegal dumping. Erin leads the Illegal Dumping Task Force, a State-wide coalition dedicated to elevating and disseminating best practices for addressing illegal dumping, on behalf of Supervisor Miley.

Erin lives and works in Oakland California wither her wife Morgan, daughter Matilda, and two very senior cats, Galileo and Guinevere.

Alex Oseguera

Alex Oseguera has been with WM for 32 years, most recently as the Director of Government Affairs for California and Hawaii. His tenure at WM has been marked by a series of successful leadership positions in both national and international operational roles, including Area Vice President, Market Area General Manager, Director of Operations, and District Manager. Alex is committed to collaborative leadership, and his teams have earned widespread recognition, including three prestigious “Circle of Excellence” awards for exemplary performance. An alumnus of Georgetown University, Alex holds a master’s degree in foreign service with a concentration in international trade and finance, which underpins his strategic approach to leadership. Alex will reside at the NCN Area office in Lodi, California.

California State Senator Jesse Arreguin

California State Senator Jesse Arreguin represents the 7th District since 2024. A lifelong East Bay resident and former Mayor of Berkeley (2016–2024), he is known for his progressive leadership on housing, environmental policy, and social justice. Arreguín previously served on the Berkeley City Council, where he advanced legislation on affordable housing, minimum wage increases, and police reform.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee is the 52nd Mayor of Oakland, taking office in 2025 after nearly three decades serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. A nationally recognized leader, she has also served in the California State Assembly and Senate. Known for her advocacy on social justice, peace, and economic equity, Lee brings decades of legislative experience to address Oakland’s key challenges, including public safety, housing, and economic development.

Ken Houston

Ken Houston is an Oakland City Councilmember and longtime community advocate focused on addressing illegal dumping, graffiti, and homelessness. He is the Co-Founder of the Beautification Council, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing blight through collaborative, community-driven solutions.

Since 2012, Houston has led innovative efforts to tackle homelessness and neighborhood conditions, including immersive, on-the-ground engagement that informed effective programs and partnerships. His work emphasizes employment, housing stability, and youth engagement to create lasting community impact.

Ilan Jacob

Ilan Jacob is the Owner of Sherlock Surveillance, a San Jose–based firm specializing in surveillance, access control, and integrated security solutions for public and commercial clients. With over 25 years of experience, he designs and deploys scalable systems to address complex public safety challenges.

He has led large-scale technology implementations and previously operated an IT consulting firm serving over 180 Bay Area organizations. Ilan holds degrees in Electronics Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, and an MBA from Syracuse University.

Brett Wilks

Brett Wilks is a Staff Professional with SCS Engineers based in Pleasanton, California. His work spans illegal dumping prevention, all things SB 1383, grant writing, and waste characterizations among other things, which means he’s often working on a little bit of everything, usually all at once. Brett supports local jurisdictions and organizations by connecting policy, data, field observations, and community realities into solutions and, when necessary, explains why furniture really shouldn’t end up on the side of the road.

Doug Kobold

Doug Kobold Doug has been “talking trash” for over 30 years. Since August 2018 he has, and continues to serve, as the Executive Director for the California Product Stewardship Council. Prior, he spent over 18 years with Sacramento County managing contracts, procurement, new recycling programs development, HHW, and pending legislation. He spent 3 years with Edgar & Associates providing solid waste consulting services statewide and over 5 years with Yolo County managing the County’s landfill. He holds a Civil Engineering degree from California State University, Chico.

Tedd Ward

Tedd Ward has promoted the creation of jobs from discards and environmental design, ending welfare for wasting, and zero waste for the last thirty years.  Ward has been Director of the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority since 2015.  Ward served on the Statewide Commission for Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling in 2020, recommending thirty strategic actions to improve California’s recovery programs. Ward has served on the SB 54 Advisory Board and currently Chairs the California Product Stewardship Council. He also volunteers as Chair of Strategies for the Illegal Dumping Technical Advisory Committee, and is Co-Chair of CRRA’s Global Recycling Council. 

Taylor Powers

Taylor Powers is a Senior Code Compliance Supervisor with the City of San Diego, Environmental Services Department, Clean SD Division. She has been with the City for almost 7 years and with ESD for just over 4. Taylor recently went from overseeing the code officers who enforced waste code violations on private property to overseeing the homeless encampment abatement teams. Taylor is a mom of a 6-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, and loves the chaos that it brings!

James Lacey

James Lacey is a Public Works Supervisor with The City of San Diego-Clean SD division. James has been with San Diego for 10 years and has spent the majority of his time with Clean SD. James oversees the abatement, CalTrans and hot spot teams made up of laborers, utility workers and heavy truck drivers. James is the proud dad of 3 kiddos and is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan!

Larry Sweetser

Larry Sweetser is Chair of the statewide Illegal Dumping Technical Advisory Committee since 2017 and a member since 2004. on behalf of the 26-member county Rural Counties’ Environmental Services Joint Powers Authority (ESJPA). Larry Sweetser specializes in trying to bridge the gap between California’s strict regulatory requirements and reality for solid waste and household hazardous waste programs for over 30 years. Larry also serves on the Solid Waste Association of North America’s California Chapter’s Legislative Task Force.

Stephanie Becker

Stephanie Becker has worked in the environmental sector for over 10 years, officially analyzing illegal dumping impacts since 2018 at CalRecycle. Stephanie facilitates the statewide Illegal Dumping Technical Advisory Committee (IDTAC) that accesses illegal dumping/disposal issues, costs, and incidents, develops recommendations, and resources, and supports regional/local efforts—endeavors to combat the problem. Stephanie has made her mark through a wide range of public health, safety, environmental, and social change campaigns. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and Marketing from CSU Sacramento. She is adamant about “correct” materials management and joins community cleanups.

Noe Garay

Noe Garay is a Waste Management Engineer at the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, supporting California’s waste reduction efforts as a grant and contract manager in the Cleanup Unit.

Julian Lopez

Julian Lopez with three years of experience working as a waste management engineer at CalRecycle. Julian served as the project manager and grant manager for the Yuba County Site that is being presented on.

Gary Cantwell

Gary Cantwell is a 2004 CSU, Chico graduate with a degree in Biology. He has been with the Yuba County Environmental Health Department in the CUPA program since 2005. He has been the Environmental Health Supervisor since September 2016. He is currently the chair of the CUPA Forum Board.

Wanda Redic

Wanda Redic began her career in the solid waste and recycling industry, implementing environmental management systems and food scraps collection programs. In Oakland, she managed outreach efforts, supported franchise agreements, and developed programs to meet state and regional recycling and organics laws. She played a key role in shaping SB 1383, including leading Oakland’s edible food recovery program.

Wanda currently serves as President of the California Resource Recovery Association Board and has led the development of enforcement programs for recycling and waste ordinances. She now applies her expertise to addressing illegal dumping.

Dr. Cecile Carson

Dr. Cecile Carson is a recognized leader in developing innovative litter, illegal dumping, recycling, and civic engagement programs. Cecile’s career spans 30 years in government, nonprofit, and academic settings and serves as the Executive Team Leader for Keep California Beautiful. In her role at KCB, Carson manages the Clean California Community Designation and K-12 programs as part of the Caltrans Initiative and the Volunteer Infrastructure program, which focuses on Climate Action Days and microgrants for California Volunteers. She has served as a lead researcher, developing a participatory science litter methodology through a US EPA grant in partnership with SacState. She serves on the Executive Team for the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) K-12 Technical Council. Dr. Carson conducts nationwide research, including Louisiana’s first statewide litter plan, the Texas and Louisiana roadway litter study, and a baseline study on illegal dumping, litter law enforcement fines, and enforcement professionals’ attitudes in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. She obtained a doctorate in Learning and Organizational Change from Baylor University.

Emin Israfil

Emin Israfil is the founder and CEO of Rubbish, a San Francisco-based tech company transforming waste management using data, AI, and delightful user experiences. The company’s unique approach to fostering clean and sustainable neighborhoods has gained recognition from organizations like NASA, Google, Apple, and Accenture.

Having started programming at the age of 10, Emin’s enthusiasm for technology is intrinsically linked with his dedication to environmental sustainability. His extensive experience living and working across five continents has fueled his commitment to addressing global environmental issues, particularly waste management and cleaning up our shared community spaces.

Emin earned a B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology from SUNY Binghamton, complemented by further Risk Management and Organizational Behavior studies at RMIT University in Australia and Epithelial Cancer Research at UCLA.

Dr. Ida Oberman

Dr. Ida Oberman, Dutch-born and German-educated, is an immigrant to the United States since 1984. She acquired US citizenship in 2016. She has been an FIAEB leader for the past two decades and has been a member of the IDLOC since its inception in 2015. As FIAEB leader, together with others, Dr. Oberman founded and is currently the retired executive director of the Community School for Creative Education, the nation’s inaugural intercultural urban public Waldorf school. This institution is a full-service public community school located in Oakland and serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

Charles Reed

IDCON5

Barbara Bella

Barbara Bella is a community leader and longtime San Francisco resident, dedicated to environmental advocacy and neighborhood improvement. As Co-Chair of Neighborhood Enhancement for Russian Hill Neighbors, she organizes cleanups and initiatives to improve quality of life in the area. She also works with her district supervisor at City Hall on projects focused on street cleanliness and vitality. Currently, she’s leading a campaign to end the sale of plastic cigarette filters in San Francisco, in partnership with Vince Yuen of Refuse Refuse.

With decades of leadership experience across media, business, and nonprofits, Barbara was the former President of Barbara Bella & Associates, a top publisher’s rep firm. She’s also held senior roles at major publishing and advertising agencies, including Working Mother Magazine. Additionally, Barbara has served on the boards of the Golden Gate Philharmonic and San Francisco University High School. She graduated from Marist College with a BA in Communications Arts.

Vincent Yuen

Vincent Yuen is just another San Franciscan that cares about a clean environment. He started out cleaning his block with his two daughters (aged 5 and 7). Then he discovered others already picking up trash and spread the word to neighbors from all over the city who have joined the Refuse Refuse movement to keep the city clean. He ultimately discovered that caring for San Francisco is his greatest passion.

Vincent would always complain to his neighbor that they should pick up the trash they walked through on their way to their kid’s school together, but of course never did. Refuse Refuse was born out of the pandemic when he was looking for outdoor activities for his daughters and finally bought a couple trash pickers. After exploring why San Francisco was so dirty and researching models to keep cities clean, Vince realized that education and the actions of residents could address this challenge. So he threw up a website, posted it on social media, and Refuse Refuse was conceived.

Yulia Ginkrug – Co-Lead, Research & Community–Academic Partnership

Yulia Grinkrug is affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley and serves as co-lead of the Mind the Gap Collaborative. She integrates applied research, participatory action methods, and community-based knowledge to support equity-centered waste management strategies, guiding data analysis, student-led fieldwork, and cross-sector collaboration.

Sharay Pinero – Co-Lead, Community Engagement & Operations

Sharay Pinero is an Oakland resident and co-lead of the Mind the Gap Collaborative, as well as an Illegal Dumping Task Force attendee that sought to contribute her professional lessons learned with other attendees of the Task Force in the interest of giving back to the communities that inspired her career. With a professional background as a creative facilitator, Pinero brings expertise in space planning, facilities operations and maintenance, capital improvement, safety and security programs, and team building. Her work centers on bridging community insight with practical, equity-driven solutions to improve service delivery systems.

Wisdom Onuoma – Researcher, Collaborator, Project Logistics

Wisdom Onuoma is affiliated with the Urban Healers Club at UC Berkeley and serves as a researcher and project coordinator, supporting fieldwork, data collection, and logistics for the collaborative’s equity-focused initiatives.

Bhagyasshree Ramakrishna – Researcher, Collaborator, Project & Presentation Logistics

Bhagyasshree Ramakrishna is a UC Berkeley alumna and current practitioner who contributes research, coordination, and presentation planning, helping translate data and community insights into actionable strategies.

Ruthie Grace Redmond – Collaborator, Presentation Logistics

Ruthie Grace Redmond is a Master of City Planning student at UC Berkeley who supports presentation development and brings a planning lens to advancing equitable and systems-based waste solutions.

Gloria Cherotich Tanui – Collaborator, Presentation Logistics

Gloria Cherotich Tanui is a UC Berkeley alumna and current practitioner who contributes professional expertise and supports the development and delivery of presentation materials.

Justin Scott Wagner – Collaborator, Presentation Logistics

Justin Scott Wagner is a Master of Urban Design student at UC Berkeley who supports presentation logistics and brings a design-oriented perspective to systems thinking and equitable service delivery.

Kas Neteler

Kas Neteler has been with Gigantic since 2009 and advanced to the role of Principal in 2016. She is a dynamic leader who excels at forming strategic collaborations where results often exceed client goals. With over 28 years of experience, Kas applies her diverse skills in creative direction, marketing strategy, business development, design and photography to build innovative and effective marketing and outreach campaigns. Kas designs and facilitates meetings and workshops for building and strengthening communities, programs and organizations using Systems Thinking, Open Space Technology and Design Thinking techniques.

Nancy Roberts

Nancy Roberts has over 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations, communications and project management for mission-driven organizations. She focuses on strategic communications planning, metrics and integrating social media into traditional outreach campaigns for many of Gigantic’s clients, including Zero Waste Marin, Livermore Recycles, Carpet America Recovery Effort, Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and Respect Wildlife. A former blogger, Nancy also excels at content development, from social media posts to press releases and campaign copy.