Meet Christen Montero
Rooted in Riverside.Ready to Serve.
A lifelong Riverside resident, Planning Commissioner, agricultural operator, and small business leader, Christen Montero has built her career around solving problems, strengthening communities, and making systems work better for the people who depend on them.
Riverside roots
Riverside Is Home
Christen has called Riverside home since childhood. She grew up here, attended local schools, built businesses here, and has remained deeply connected to the people and neighborhoods that shaped her.
Her path through Riverside's schools and community gave her an early appreciation for the city's diversity, creativity, and sense of possibility. Those roots continue to shape how she approaches public service today: listen first, understand how decisions affect real people, and always keep the long-term health of the community in view.
Business & operations
Building, Managing, and Solving Problems
Before entering public service, Christen built her career as an entrepreneur and business strategist, helping organizations improve operations, coordinate complex projects, and grow sustainably. That experience taught her that good leadership isn't just about having ideas—it's about understanding systems, managing resources responsibly, and delivering results.
Those same skills matter when overseeing an agency responsible for major infrastructure investments, long-term planning, and essential public services.
Public service
Asking the Hard Questions
As a Riverside Planning Commissioner, Christen evaluates decisions where growth, infrastructure, neighborhoods, environmental impacts, and long-term planning intersect. Her role involves reviewing land use, development, infrastructure impacts, and the questions that shape how a community grows.
This has given her firsthand experience asking the questions public leaders should ask: Can our infrastructure support growth? What will this decision cost communities over time? Are we planning responsibly? Are residents being heard?
Those are the same questions that belong at the Western Municipal Water District, where decisions about supply, rates, and infrastructure reach every household in Division 2.
Agriculture & resource management
Understanding Water From the Ground Up
For Christen, water and resource management aren't abstract policy topics. Through her work in local agriculture and regional food recovery, she has seen firsthand how water availability, operating costs, waste, and resource efficiency affect local growers and working families.
As Executive Director of LeftOver Love, Christen works with circular food and agricultural systems that recover usable resources and redirect them to support local farms and livestock operations. This work has reinforced a simple principle: responsible resource management can lower costs, reduce waste, and make communities more resilient.
That practical perspective is one of the reasons Christen is running for the Western Municipal Water District.
Why I'm running
Protecting the Resource Every Family Depends On
Christen is running for the Western Municipal Water District, Division 2 because decisions about water directly affect household budgets, local businesses, future development, and our region's ability to withstand drought and climate uncertainty.
She believes ratepayers deserve transparent decisions, responsible investment, reliable local water supplies, and leadership focused on long-term solutions rather than short-term fixes.
As a Planning Commissioner, business leader, agricultural operator, and lifelong Riverside resident, Christen is ready to bring a practical, community-focused perspective to the Water Board.
“I want every family in Division 2 to know that someone on the Water Board is asking how each decision affects their bill, their neighborhood, and the future we're building together.”
What Christen Will Fight For
Affordable & Transparent Water
Families deserve to understand what they pay for, and why.
Reliable Local Water
Investing in local supply helps our communities depend less on increasingly expensive imported water.
Responsible Infrastructure
Pipelines and treatment systems should be maintained before small problems become costly emergencies.
Beyond the campaign
Beyond Public Service
When Christen isn't working, serving on the Planning Commission, or helping with agricultural operations, she values time with family, animals, and the Riverside community she has called home for most of her life.
She can often be found hiking Mt. Rubidoux, running with her two white German Shepherds, or caring for her farm animals. A dancer since the age of four, she has long believed in the importance of balance and staying grounded.
Christen holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Redlands, with a background in physics, education, and psychology, and a Master of Business Administration from the same university. She later completed post-graduate studies in controlled-environment agriculture systems at UC Riverside.
Join Team Christen
Help Build a More Reliable Water Future
This campaign is about protecting ratepayers, strengthening our local water supply, and making sure Division 2 has a strong voice in the decisions that shape our future.