Alex Oseguera

Alex has been with WM for 34 years, 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 multiple 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 resides from the Northern California/Nevada Area office in Lodi, California.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Christine Flowers

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.

Supervisor Miley would like to thank all of the conference panelists, the incredible sponsors without whom this event would not have happened and every viewer who took the time to learn more about how we can end illegal dumping once and for all!

For the most updated information coming out of Supervisor Miley's office including progress and news about the ACID pilot and illegal dumping, please subscribe to our newsletter here. To join the Illegal Dumping Taskforce please email Erin Armstrong at erin.armstrong@acgov.org.