Metropolitan Water District elects first-ever Latino Board Chairman

Water policy and strategic communications consultant Adán Ortega has been elected chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Ortega, who has served on the board since 2019, is the first Latino chairman to be elected and will serve a two-year term beginning Jan. 1. He began representing the city of San Fernando on the board in March 2021 after previously representing the city of Fullerton from February 2019 to February 2021.

“I pledge to my colleagues on the board, Metropolitan staff and our member agencies to work relentlessly to meet our water supply and environmental stewardship commitments to the cities and communities we serve throughout Southern California,” Chair-elect Ortega said.

Ortega brings to the position three decades of experience in government relations and has helped lead efforts to bring assistance to small community water systems in disadvantaged communities across the state.

The principal of Ortega Strategies Group, a public affairs and government relations firm based in Fullerton, Ortega previously served as Metropolitan’s vice president of external affairs from 1999 to 2005. Before his role with Metropolitan, he was chief deputy for then-Secretary of State Bill Jones and assistant general manager of both West Basin and Central Basin municipal water districts.

In 2013, Ortega was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the California Water Commission. Prior to that, he was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve on the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, where Ortega chaired its water committee from 2005 to 2012.

A Fullerton resident, Ortega holds bachelor’s degrees in English and history from Whittier College. He and his wife, Susan, have a son.