Meet Our Team - Curphey & Malkin Associates, Inc.

Curphey & Malkin is proud to be different.

We’ve been helping companies grow for the last 27 years by taking a personal approach in assessing a company’s culture, personality, and staffing needs. Unlike many other search firms, we build lasting relationships with our clients.

Our clients include global companies, start-up ventures, and growth businesses.

Nancy Malkin - Senior Partner

“I am immensely proud of our team’s achievements in successfully matching clients with the perfect candidates. Through our dedicated efforts, we have grown into one of the most recognized boutique firms in a highly competitive market. Our team of recruiters, with expertise in both business and technology, has earned the trust of our clients by consistently finding candidates who thrive in long-term placements.”

Nancy Malkin, Senior Partner and co-founder at Curphey & Malkin, brings over 20 years of experience that has established the firm as a premier search firm for innovative technology. She collaborates with a diverse range of companies, from small startups to Fortune 100 corporations, and her expertise encompasses marketing, sales engineering, product management, professional services, customer success, tech support, and operations. Nancy excels in placing professionals at all levels, from SVP/CMO to individual contributors. Before transitioning to recruiting, she worked as a sales engineer.

Nancy holds a BA from Ohio State University. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, using her Peloton, reading great novels, and watching movies. She is a member of Women in Revenue and a former board member of the Los Angeles Giving Circle. Nancy is passionate about supporting women’s charities.”

Joanne Cohen - Partner

“After thoroughly understanding a client’s needs, I am adept at selecting 1-3 candidates who are an excellent fit, ensuring mutual satisfaction for both the candidate and the client. My expertise in technology streamlines the process, making it efficient to find outstanding matches.”

Joanne Cohen spearheaded Curphey & Malkin’s product and marketing practice, leveraging her extensive corporate experience in marketing, sales, consulting, and finance with both private and public companies.

Joanne holds a BA in Economics and an MBA from UCLA. She enjoys traveling the world, attending theater performances, and participating in weekly football workouts. An avid reader of business journals and fiction, she also cherishes her life at the beach.

Deb Ryan - Partner

“When I joined Curphey & Malkin, I sought a change—a shift towards a more personalized company environment. Previously, I worked in high-tech marketing, supporting sales and orchestrating company events like trade shows, conferences, and executive forums to drive lead generation. Transitioning here, I aimed to leverage these skills to assist individuals in discovering their ideal careers. I am proud to have found that opportunity and am delighted to contribute to this team.”

Deb Ryan’s passion lies in evaluating company cultures and staffing needs to match candidates effectively. I assess candidates not only based on skills but also on their personality fit, work environment preferences, and career aspirations, which ultimately fosters successful partnerships.

Deb brings almost two decades of recruitment expertise from Curphey & Malkin, focusing on SMB, Mid Market, and Enterprise sales, spanning from individual contributors to management roles.

Deb’s interests include Spin class, Body Pump, watching movies and cooking. She is an avid sports fan.

Randy Tanaka - Partner

Randy has over 15 years of experience spanning both agency and corporate recruiting experience. He started his career on the agency side recruiting for a wide variety of industries including software, hardware, manufacturing, and solar. He then transitioned to in-house corporate recruiting where he led talent acquisition for a fintech startup, Intacct, that eventually got acquired by Sage. He went on to build and scale another talent acquisition team at another fintech startup, Pilot. Randy has extensive experience building and scaling talent functions and has recruited for all types of roles.

Randy has a BS from San Jose State University. If you ever get on a video call with him, you will notice his background which is his wall of medals. For seven years, he was addicted to running (now retired from it).

Austin Ables - Partner

After 6 years as a barber, Austin decided to switch careers and take his love for talking with and meeting new people into the recruiting space. Austin has primarily recruited for Go-to-Market and Finance roles, but has a passion for helping candidates and companies alike find dream fulfillment across all teams. Austin started in-house under Randy Tanaka’s team at Pilot, and is proud to continue working along side him and the other talented folks at Curphey & Malkin.

In Austin’s free time, you can usually catch him trying to lower his golf score, making food for friends and family, or rooting on Bay Area sports!

Tyler Ichikawa - Partner

Tyler has over 9yrs of recruiting experience. After college, he spent a few years as a golf instructor at a local club, before making the switch to the world of recruiting. His first year he was on the agency side working on administrative, light industrial, and technical roles, before making the switch to corporate recruiting at a small software company. For the past 8+ years he has worked at fast growing SaaS companies in the Insurance, MDM, FinTech, and Telehealth industries. These companies have ranged from early stage startups (Seed/Series A) to large global public companies.

When not finding world class talent, Tyler can be found backpacking and fly fishing in the Sierra Nevadas, trying to “find” his old golf game, cooking meals for family and friends, and taking his black lab to the beach. Though these days, the vast majority of his time is spent with his wife and newborn son, Kei.