Ivan Mironov

Ivan adores sports. He plays football with his friends every week, and he loves table tennis. In summer, he’ll definitely be riding a bike, and if he’s anywhere near the sea you’ll probably find him on a yacht. Ivan has enjoyed all kinds of different sports since childhood. He wanted to try everything, and to reach the highest possible level.

“Yes, there was probably a time when I was upset that I wouldn’t become a professional athlete. I wanted to be a football or basketball player. But despite this, I can still enjoy playing at an amateur level,” Ivan says.

He was born without a left arm. In medical terms this is called a “congenital deformity of the left forearm”. How did this happen? He probably didn’t ask until he was a teenager – a time when people start to have lots of questions about life and themselves. All things considered, Ivan’s parents raised him as a completely normal child, and he had a cosmetic prosthesis by the time he was at school age.

After school Ivan studied law, but he didn’t end up working in this field. During his second year, his father became seriously ill. “He was diagnosed with a brain tumour. My father was the main breadwinner in the family. I was going to have to work, since my mother wouldn’t be able to support me and my older brother alone.”

He found a job in logistics, and his working schedule allowed him to continue his studies. By the time he graduated from university, Ivan was facing the choice of trying out as a young lawyer or continuing his development in logistics, where he was already doing well and earning a stable income. Over time, he transitioned from logistics to procurement. He worked for major international corporations and in 2015 joined Kaspersky.

Today Ivan is responsible for purchasing marketing and other services, and helps his colleagues find the best suppliers to meet the company’s needs. Have you come across our stylish souvenirs and boxed versions of Kaspersky products in stores? That’s his job too.

Ivan is also an avid traveler and has visited around 35 countries. Several years ago he fell in love with yachting, studying and passing his exams to become an international skipper. He can now operate a sailing vessel quite adeptly in coastal waters.

“I didn’t like talking about what was wrong with my arm in the past. I found it difficult and uncomfortable,” Ivan confesses. “Over time, my self-perception shifted and so did my attitude towards life. I became more open – probably because I also saw all kinds of different people with their own complex experiences while traveling. The most significant changes to my thinking, however, came when I met my future wife and then when we had our daughter Alexia. These events radically changed how I viewed life, and still inspire me to achieve new things to this day. In the past, I was afraid that I might pass on some hereditary issues to my children. These fears were unscientific, but in the end I was only able to shake them when I had a daughter and saw that she was completely healthy.”