Abran Montoya-Bloom has built a career at the intersection of finance, real estate, construction and healthcare, helping develop facilities that expand access to healthcare. But the lessons that shaped his success began long before his career took him to Yale. They began in Questa.

Montoya-Bloom, 36, is Yale’s director of capital program development. He recently joined Yale after working as a capital finance consultant at Brown University, continuing a career that has taken him from New Mexico to California and Colorado and now to the East Coast.

Yet no matter how far he travels, New Mexico remains home.

“I catch myself saying, ‘We’re going home,’” Montoya-Bloom said. “Home is Questa, but in reality, New Mexico is home.”

After graduating from Questa High School in 2008, Montoya-Bloom attended New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where he majored in accounting and worked in the university’s accounting department and as a resident assistant. He then spent about three years in California working in corporate accounting, including positions with Clif Bar and Conagra Brands, before moving to Denver around 2013 to work for Kaiser Permanente in finance, accounting and capital planning.

He eventually discovered that his passion extended beyond accounting.

“I loved accounting, but my passion is where finance, real estate and construction meet to increase access to healthcare,” he said.

In healthcare, that intersection can have a direct impact on people’s lives. Developing facilities closer to patients can mean less travel and better access to essential services, a mission that has become central to his work.
The resourcefulness behind that mission, he said, was shaped by growing up in Questa.

As a teenager, he recalls exploring the community on four-wheelers, learning to navigate unexpected challenges on their own. If an ATV ran out of gas or a friend got hurt, they had to find a solution, whether that meant contacting their parents or figuring out how to get everyone home.

“Ultimately, we had to figure out how to get ourselves out of the situation,” he said with a laugh.
Those experiences taught him resilience, independence and the importance of seeing a problem through.
“Problem-solving was natural,” he said. “We had to be really resourceful. If we needed to get something done, we had to find a way to get it done.”

His parents, Chris and Yolanda Montoya, reinforced those lessons. His father, a self-described fixer in Abran’s telling, taught him to approach problems practically through hands-on work repairing things around the house and working on cars. That real-world understanding has proved valuable in his career, where he collaborates with people in construction, real estate and finance.

His mother, Yolanda, always encouraged him to figure things out on his own, an independence that made him resourceful early on.

Mentors in Questa also helped shape his path. Sally Lucero, his accounting teacher, believed in his abilities and helped him secure an internship at Chevron Mine during his junior and senior years of high school. Although Lucero has since passed away, Montoya-Bloom continues to credit her with laying the foundation for his career.
Patricia Torres, whom he affectionately calls Grandma Pat, became another lasting influence. The two met during his internship, and Torres continued to offer personalized guidance and career advice long after those early years.
Their support reflects what Montoya-Bloom considers one of Questa’s greatest strengths: a community that invests in its people and shows up for one another.

“There is something incredibly special about growing up in Questa,” he said. “The community is so connected, but because it’s so real and pronounced, it’s sometimes easy to forget our own identity is in helping and supporting one another, even when we don’t get along.”

He hopes residents continue to recognize that strength and take pride in where they come from.
That connection to New Mexico also shaped his personal life. Montoya-Bloom met his husband, Carl, in Denver in 2018, and they married in Santa Fe in 2021. The city was a meaningful choice for the couple, who share a love for New Mexico and wanted to celebrate close to family.

The Montoya family is especially close-knit, he said, making a small wedding guest list a challenge. Inviting one person could easily mean inviting the entire 150+ member family, so the couple chose an intimate celebration.
“Having a small wedding was in no way a personal jab to anyone,” he said with a laugh, “but it was not easy to navigate that decision because of the close bonds in our family.”

In the future, Montoya-Bloom hopes to establish a home base in Questa or northern New Mexico. He and Carl return whenever they can, particularly around the holidays, keeping family and their connection to the state close.
That same commitment to connection and access extends beyond his professional life. Montoya-Bloom serves on the board of the Providence Public Library, a role that reflects his lifelong love of reading.

As a child, books allowed him to explore worlds beyond his own and imagine possibilities outside the boundaries of a small town. That experience helped him understand how important access to books and public resources can be, especially for people with limited opportunities.

Growing up in Questa, where a public library was not available to him as a child and the nearest hospital was a 45-minute drive away, Montoya-Bloom learned firsthand how geography can shape access to essential resources. Those experiences continue to inform his commitment to equity, both through his work in healthcare development and his service on the Providence Public Library board.

He sees a common thread between the two: ensuring people have access to the resources they need to thrive. Libraries open doors to knowledge and possibility, while healthcare facilities bring essential services closer to the communities that need them. For Montoya-Bloom, expanding that access is more than a professional mission; it is personal.

That commitment has become a golden thread running through his life, connecting the curiosity and resourcefulness he developed in Questa to the work he does today.

As he sits alongside colleagues from major cities and prestigious Ivy League institutions, Montoya-Bloom takes pride in how far he has come without losing sight of where he started. “I sit at tables with people from big cities and Ivy League schools, and I’m proud that a kid from Questa is right there with them.”

He has never lost sight of where he came from, or how the challenges of growing up in a rural community shaped his determination to help ensure others have access to opportunities and services that can change their lives.

The lessons he learned at home, resilience, resourcefulness, ambition and the importance of community remain with him.

For Montoya-Bloom, carrying Questa with him is about more than remembering where he came from. It is about honoring the people who helped him get where he is and making sure the values he learned there continue to shape what comes next.