Igor Stanislа́vovich Ashmа́nov (born 9 January 1962) —

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

specializing in

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

project management Project management is the process of supervising the work of a Project team, team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project initiation documentation, project documentation, crea ...

. He directed development of the linguistic module '' ORFO'' of the Russian edition of ''

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, MS Office, or simply Office, is an office suite and family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. The first version of the Office suite, announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at CO ...

'', a family of '' Multilex'' electronic dictionaries, ''Spamtest'' spam filter etc.''Положевец, Г.'
Игорь Ашманов: «Учиться на ошибках нельзя — надо их обобщать»
— ''Bit'' magazine, 2013. — # 9 (32).Igor Ashmanov
— official '' Ashmanov & Partners'' website. Managing partner of '' Ashmanov & Partners'', investor and co-owner of dozens of IT start-ups, one of the founders and most well-known top managers of the Russian IT industry.''Кузьмичёв, А.'
Новинки книжных развалов
— ''

Vedomosti ( rus, Ведомости, p=ˈvʲedəməsʲtʲɪ, ) is a Russian-language business daily newspaper published in Moscow. History was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Dow Jones, who publishes ''The Wall Street Journal''; Pearson, ...

'', #2182, 27 August 2008.

Early years

Born in Moscow on 9 January 1962 in a family of mathematicians, including his father Stanislav Ashmanov. Father, Stanislav Alexandrovich Ashmanov (1941—1994), was a post-graduate student at

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

, later to become Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and professor at

MSU Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics MSU Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics (CMC) (), founded in 1970 by Andrey Nikolayevich Tychonoff, Andrey Tikhonov, is a part of Moscow State University. Education CMC is a Russian research and training center in the fields of ...

, one of the leading Russian scientists in the field of mathematical economy and author of over 60 papers on

mathematical optimization Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criteria, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfiel ...

and

linear programming Linear programming (LP), also called linear optimization, is a method to achieve the best outcome (such as maximum profit or lowest cost) in a mathematical model whose requirements and objective are represented by linear function#As a polynomia ...

.Ашманов Станислав Александрович
— Официальный сайт Факультета ВМК МГУ имени М. В. Ломоносова. Both his mother, Natalya Alexandrovna Berezina, and his grandmother were graduates of the MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics.Ашманов Игорь Станиславович
— Официальный сайт Клуба выпускников МГУ.

Education

Studied at

MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics The MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics () is a faculty of Moscow State University. History Although lectures in mathematics had been delivered since Moscow State University was founded in 1755, the mathematical and physical department was ...

where he specialized in

abstract algebra In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures, which are set (mathematics), sets with specific operation (mathematics), operations acting on their elements. Algebraic structur ...

. Graduated from the university in 1983, with a graduation thesis ''On aspheric co-presentations of free groups and a problem by Philip Hall''. In 1985—1987, post-graduate student at the abstract algebra department at MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics. In 1995, he defended a thesis, ''Architecture and industrial implementation of applied linguistic systems'',''Ашманов, И.'
Архитектура и технология промышленной реализации прикладных лингвистических систем
Автореферат диссертации. — ''tekhnosfera.com'' based on descriptions of architecture and algorithms of ORFO, and became a Doctor of Science.''Боярский, А.'
Игорь Ашманов: «В Интернете можно предсказать судьбы мира»
— '' E-xecutive.ru'', 19 January 2011. In 2000—2001, he completed the ''MBA. Strategic management'' course in Higher School of International Business at

Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) is a federal state-funded institution of higher education located in Moscow, Russia. With the merger of Academy of National Economy (ANE), Russian Academy ...

.Определён состав жюри XV ММФР в конкурсе «Интернет»
— ''Advertology.ru'', 14 October 2005.

Career

Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre

Igor Ashmanov started his career in IT when he joined the artificial intelligence department of Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre as an intern researcher. In 1985, he became a research associate in the Centre. During the time, he developed a

natural language A natural language or ordinary language is a language that occurs naturally in a human community by a process of use, repetition, and change. It can take different forms, typically either a spoken language or a sign language. Natural languages ...

based discussion system, economic computing etc.

Informatic

In 1987, he joined the ORFO spell checker developers team at ''Informatic'', where he was responsible for the linguistic corpus. He also directed the development of the ''Context'' electronic dictionary, the ''Logos'' interlinear translation program, the ''Calligraph'' hyphenation system, the ''Sphinx'' full-text search engine, and the ''Jordan'' matrix calculator. During the

1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to Coup d'état, forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was President ...

, most of ORFO developers, including the team leader, left Russia for the USA. Ashmanov chose to stay and headed the ORFO project. In 1992, ORFO was licensed to

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

, and in 1994, ''

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

'' chose it to become part of the Russian edition of its flagship ''

'' product. In 1995,

acquired ORFO, and Ashmanov left ''Informatics''.

MediaLingua

In 1995, Igor Ashmanov co-founded ''MediaLingua'' and became its CEO. The company acquired exclusive rights for electronic dictionaries by the

Russian Language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

publishing house and created a MultiLex family of electronic bilingual dictionaries. In 1999, Oleg Serebrennikov, the majority shareholder of MediaLingua, decided to change development strategy of the company,Олег Серебренников: «Вопрос о продаже бизнеса ''„МедиаЛингвы'' полностью пока перед нами не стоит»
— ''AlgoNet.ru'', 22 февраля 2000 года. and Igor Ashmanov left the company to join Rambler as software research and development director.

Rambler

In 2001, Ashmanov became chief operating officer at Rambler. During his management time at the company, new search core ''Rambler 2.0'' was developed and deployed, and over two dozens of new services of the web portal were launched. Later, Igor Ashmanov had a book on his work in Rambler published. ''Life inside a bubble'' («Жизнь внутри пузыря») became a bestseller, lifting a curtain of a life inside a large internet holding company. During his 1.5 years at Rambler, Ashmanov witnessed ownership rotation three times, while none of the new owners expressed any interest in developing the search engine. He left the company in May 2001.

A&P

Later in 2001, Ashmanov founded a consulting company Ashmanov & Partners that kickstarted the

search engine optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of Web traffic, website traffic to a website or a web page from web search engine, search engines. SEO targets unpaid search traffic (usually referred to as ...

market in Russia and became its leader.''Бабицкий, А.'
Хозяева виртуальной реальности. Игорь Ашманов
— Журнал ''Forbes'', 28 февраля 2011 года. He was joined by former colleagues from Rambler, who later became shareholders in the company. "Ashmanov & Partners" and its subsidiaries currently employ over 300 people. As reported''Rusyaeva P.'
Последняя перекличка
— The Firm's Secret magazine, 1 March 2011. — #3. — pp. 70. by The Firm's Secret magazine in 2011, Ashmanov & Partners serviced over 1,000 clients monthly and had a total market share of 5—10 % in Russian on-line marketing industry. Apart from providing integrated on-line marketing services, A&P develops technologies for marketing professionals, organizes leading industry's conferences, and runs its On-line Marketing Academy,On-line Marketing Academy
official website. where experts from A&P and its rival companies educate students.

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

research in 2005 was organized as a subsidiary Nanosemantics. In 2007, the annual gross volume of Ashmanov & Partners was estimated by Finam Holdings at USD $2.5 mln. According to annual web studios' rating by Factus, based on publicly available tax reports, gross volume of Ashmanov & Partners in 2015 was over ₽300 mln,

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

not included.2015 rating
. — official '' Factus'' website. Ashmanov & Partners has a number of subsidiaries, both acquired and started by the company. The subsidiaries are not part of any formal

corporate group A corporate group, company group or business group, also formally known as a group of companies, is a collection of parent and subsidiary corporations that function as a single economic entity through a common source of control. These types of gr ...

, but they use resources by both Ashmanov & Partners and sibling companies.

Accomplishments

Wealth

The ''

Finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

'' magazine twice estimated Ashmanov's wealth as $50 mln in 2010 and 2011.''Школин, А.'
Крупнейшие семейные бизнесы
http://www.buffett.ru/investments/krupneyshie-semeynye-biznesy/]. — ''

'' magazine, 21 May 2010.''Школин, А.'
50 богатейших бизнес-семей России
. — ''

'' magazine, 16 May 2011. In 2012, '' The Firm's Secret'' magazine estimated Ashmanov's wealth as $56 mln, downsizing it to $22 mln in 2014.Топ-100 российских интернет-миллионеров
— '' The Firm's Secret'' magazine, 3 February 2014.Топ-50 российских интернет-миллионеров
— '' The Firm's Secret'' magazine, 1 November 2012.

Ratings

Igor Ashmanov is winner of :ru:РОТОР, ROTOR's ''Man of the year'' nomination in 2004 and 2006, taking 2nd place in 2008. Commonly takes 2nd place (after

Artemy Lebedev Artemy Andreyevich Lebedev () is a Russian designer and businessman. He is the founder of the design company Art. Lebedev Studio. He is also an avid blogger, known for his rather provocative views and frequent usage of obscene language. Biograp ...

) in ''Tagline'' advertising agency's ''Key persons in the Russian

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based Information technology, digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and service ...

and web development market'' rating of 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.Игорь Ашманов
— Официальный сайт ''Tagline''. In 2011, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Russia'' included Ashmanov into the TOP30 list of Russian Internet businessmen.Топ-30 персон российского интернет-бизнеса. Награждение
— Журнал ''

'', 15 марта 2011 года. Igor Ashmanov is also among TOP100 Russian Internet millionaires according to The Firm's Secret magazine (35th in 2012, 84th in 2014).

Public activity

Igor Ashmanov is active participant in multiple government working groups: a Presidential Executive Office based working group on digital economy (''Internet + society'' and ''Internet + sovereignty'' subgroups, led by Igor Schyogolev), a State Duma-based Digital Economy Council (led by

Vyacheslav Volodin Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin (, ; born 4 February 1964) is a Russian politician who currently serves as the 10th Chairman of the State Duma since 2016. He is a former aide to President Vladimir Putin. The former Secretary-General of the Unit ...

), and the Ministry of Communications-based working group on digital economy (''Information security'' subgroup). He is also Skolkovo Foundation expertМентор: Игорь Ашманов
— Официальный сайт Фонда « Сколково». and lecturer at the Military Academy of Strategic Missile Troops and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, where he delivers lectures on big data, social networks, and information warfare. Since June 2012, he is co-chair in the Russian Great Fatherland Party.

Personal life

Igor Ashmanov is of

Eastern Orthodox Christian Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

faith. Second wife (since 2001) is

Natalya Kaspersky Natalya Ivanovna Kasperskaya (; born 5 February 1966) is a Russian IT entrepreneur, President of the InfoWatch Group of companies and co-founder and former CEO of antivirus security software company Kaspersky Lab.

, IT entrepreneur and first wife of

Eugene Kaspersky Yevgeny Valentinovich Kaspersky (; born 4 October 1965) is a Russian cybersecurity expert and the CEO of Kaspersky Lab, an IT security company with 4,000 employees. He co-founded Kaspersky Lab in 1997 and helped identify instances of government-s ...

. He has 3 children from the second marriage: Alexandra (2005), Maria (2009), Varvara (2012). The couple also brings up two sons, Maxim and Ivan, from Kaspersky's first marriage.''Попов, И.'
Как и зачем похищают предпринимателей и членов их семей
— ''Forbes'', 8 сентября 2011 года.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashmanov, Igor 1962 births Living people Businesspeople in software Internet in Russia