Why did a California state agency host a motivational speaker playing Spider-Man?
Reality Check is a Bee series holding officials and organizations accountable and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email realitycheck@sacbee.com.
A motivational speaker with a Spider-Man mask addressed a recent State Controller’s Office event — and was paid from a state contract designed to help with technology projects.
The speaker, Kaplan Mobray, commands speaking fees of between $20,000 and $30,000, according to his Gotham Artists profile page.
Mobray declined to disclose that information when contacted by The Bee.
Mobray delivered his speech to state workers on June 12, at the Health and Human Services Agency, Department of Public Health auditorium in Sacramento, according to an email statement from office spokesman Bismarck Obando.
The State Controller’s Office employs 1,465 people, according to data from that office. The office is run by State Controller Malia Cohen, who is up for reelection in 2026.
As State Controller, Cohen is charged with accounting for and auditing how the state spends its funds and administering payroll for state government and California State University employees.
In his email, Obando wrote that Mobray “was not contracted by the State Controller’s Office and as such we do not have any information relative to the amount he charges.”
Obando said that Mobray was hired by the firm Ernst and Young, a state vendor with the office’s two multi-billion-dollar, enterprise-wide technology projects.
“As such, the cost for Mr. Mobray was included in the contract and absorbed by (Ernst and Young),” Obando wrote.
The Bee reached out to Ernst and Young for comment, but did not receive any by deadline.
Also unclear is the reason for Mobray’s speaking engagement, which was mandatory for all State Controller’s Office employees — though many attended the speech remotely.
Obando wrote that the office’s two technology projects “will transform how we do business and move the organization to a place where we are delivering industry-leading practices for a finance organization.”
“To leverage the state’s investment in these projects, the Controller’s Office embarked on a strategic planning process that involves change management. Last week’s SCO team meeting, attended by our 1,400 team members who attended in-person and virtually, was part of that process,” Obando wrote.
Mobray specializes in “personal branding,” “sales and performance” and “elevating leadership,” according to his personal website.
One poster on Reddit described the speech as “half political rally for Cohen, half weird motivational speaker yelling at me about superheroes.”
Asked about the optics of bringing in Mobray to speak at a time when the state is facing a $45 billion budget deficit, Obando wrote that Cohen “ is aware of the budgetary challenges facing the state in the upcoming fiscal year.”
“As stated above, the cost for Mr. Mobray’s services were not billed to the state and are not subject to reimbursements. Additionally, in conducting the all staff meeting, careful attention was given to minimize state expense by utilizing state resources such as the State Health and Human Services Agency resources facility and by telecasting the event to SCO employees,” he wrote.
