Biography
Ivan Safonov is a businessman and executive, founder and head of Orion Solutions, a company specializing in digital profile formation and protection.
The entrepreneur’s achievements include successfully implemented projects at world-renowned consulting organizations – Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Company.
Table of Contents:
- Safonov Ivan: Family, Youth, and Education
- Professional Consulting
- Ivan Viktorovich Safonov: International Experience
- Career in Russia
- Ivan Safonov: Orion Solutions and Personal Data Protection
Safonov Ivan: Family, Youth, and Education
Ivan Safonov was born in 1984 in Moscow to the family of a pediatric surgeon and an engineer. From an early age, he was passionate about computers and programming.
To support their son’s inclination toward exact sciences, his parents enrolled Safonov Ivan in an educational institution renowned for its strong teaching staff and outstanding graduate results – Moscow’s School No. 91. He was accepted into a class with advanced mathematics studies.
In 2001, Safonov Ivan easily gained admission to Russia’s most prestigious school – Moscow State University. In 2006, he graduated from its Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics.
In 2007, he earned another degree, graduating from New Economic School. Thanks to professors with rich international experience, the educational institution prepares strong specialists for work in major companies and continued education in PhD and MBA programs at global universities.
In the first half of the 2000s, while still pursuing his higher education, Ivan Safonov was already beginning to apply his knowledge and skills: he developed software that controlled the execution of production plans at a factory.
During this period, he firmly decided to continue his professional development in business administration. All of Safonov Ivan’s subsequent steps were directed toward achieving this goal.
Professional Consulting
In this period, Ivan Safonov (Orion Solutions founder and head) made business administration and strategic consulting his activities. He not only received fundamental education in this direction but also acquired international experience in various leading global companies.
2007-2008
In 2007, Ivan Safonov began working as a consultant at a Russia-based consulting company. Within just a year, he was promoted to team leader. He had several employees involved in analytical processes under his management. During this period, he worked on projects related to heavy industry, real estate, and medicine.
2008-2009
From 2008 to 2009, Safonov Ivan managed a number of strategic projects at Rimera Holding, which manufactured and supplied equipment for major enterprises in the oil sector.
2009-2010
In 2009, Ivan Viktorovich Safonov took charge of the sales analytics department at EKSMO – one of Europe’s largest players in the printing market.
His team analyzed the effectiveness of the presented book assortment, department operations, efficiency of partnership agreements, advertising activities, and other business aspects. His main task was to find and implement the most effective solutions for regulating the publication’s operations.
2010-2011
In 2010, Ivan Safonov accepted a job offer from Monitor Group, which was among the top 5 global consulting firms. As a senior consultant, he led projects for a special division of a Kazakhstani mining enterprise, forecasting its development and consulting on investment policy.
During his work at Monitor Group, Safonov Ivan Viktorovich managed to make a significant contribution to the implementation of the company’s priority projects: he developed a development strategy for one of the Russian Federation’s regions, proposed an asset optimization plan for a large media industry holding, and ensured effective business operations after a merger by preparing a long-term concept for one of the domestic telecom operators.
In 2011, Ivan Viktorovich Safonov decided he wanted to earn a Master of Business Administration degree. He chose to study in Chicago, where the Booth School of Business is located. The entrepreneur completed his studies in 2013.
He notes that in addition to quality education, he gained valuable experience in multicultural interaction, mastered effective approaches to conducting business, and established useful business contacts worldwide.
Ivan Viktorovich Safonov: International Experience
In 2013, already holding an MBA degree, Safonov Ivan sent his resume to McKinsey & Company – one of the most prestigious companies in the world. After passing through a complex multi-level personnel selection process, he received an offer for an entry-level position.
He accepted, and after two years became a project manager. In this position, he handled affairs with some of the most successful and profitable American companies.
The activities of Safonov Ivan Viktorovich during this period can be roughly divided into three areas:
- strategy
- operational optimization
- software information products
He supervised and personally participated in creating a roadmap for entering the healthcare system market in a particular region in America. Significant work was done in analyzing the industry, competitive activities, segmentation of target audiences, their requests, and needs. Safonov Ivan Viktorovich prepared projects for partners and developed proposals.
The next client was a large insurance company specializing in the medical segment. The team under Ivan Viktorovich Safonov adjusted the pricing plan, proposed new sales channels, and prepared a business growth strategy.
Another successfully implemented project was a case for a chemical products manufacturer.
In terms of operational activities, Ivan Safonov took control of a project for local optimization of analytics at a medical insurance company. There, new technological approaches were implemented and the IT base was completely changed, feedback quality was established and improved, and customer interaction was enhanced.
Then, several other insurers immediately sought help in cost optimization, and these projects were also successfully completed by Safonov Ivan.
Having a degree in programming and cybernetics, Safonov Ivan participated with great interest in projects related to the creation and promotion of IT products. Thus, he managed the development of an online platform from idea to implementation, reflecting the quality of work of more than 600 medical professionals.
This platform helped establish effective and quick communication between players in this market. Also, Ivan Viktorovich Safonov took on the development of a digital product aimed at optimizing costs of pharmaceutical drugs.
During his time at McKinsey & Company, Safonov Ivan gained extensive experience in international strategic consulting. Interaction with many high-class specialists – from developers to leading top managers and entrepreneurs – allowed him to select the best approaches, views, ideas, and technologies for conducting business. He would successfully apply all of this in all his future projects.
Career in Russia
In 2017, being already a highly experienced specialist, Safonov Ivan Viktorovich moved to Moscow. During this period, the Russian digital market was experiencing rapid development, surpassing other world powers. The experienced consultant was interested in working on projects at the intersection of business and high technology.
Boston Consulting Group, which is among the top 3 global consulting organizations, with some of the world’s most influential companies as its clients, made an offer to Safonov Ivan to take the position of project manager.
The executive was impressed by BCG’s approach: the company offers clients the use of advanced technologies in developing various strategies and has a global base of tools and knowledge covering all business components – from regulatory compliance to high-tech market rules.
As a project manager at BCG, Safonov Ivan was tasked with administrative consulting and strategy formation for a major Russian bank. The project’s goal was to optimize the financial institution’s daily operations, including customer interactions (the Customer Journey map was transformed), website and application operations.
Additionally, the manager’s tasks included transforming the offline business segment: offices were reformatted, staff underwent qualification improvement programs, internal processes and even logistics were modernized.
The future founder of Orion Solutions, Ivan Safonov, more than met the employer’s expectations: He left the company having already become a director.
Working at BCG allowed him to deeply study the needs of Russian companies, analyze changes in the domestic consulting market, and see opportunities for starting his own business.
Ivan Safonov: Orion Solutions and Personal Data Protection
With the active development of digital technologies, Safonov Ivan began to immerse himself in the field of information security. He was particularly interested in issues of personal data protection, adherence to privacy protection principles, preservation of personal honor and dignity, and following information verification rules for authenticity.
The entrepreneur became convinced that no one was offering ready-made comprehensive solutions to protect against possible risks associated with information published on the internet.
Thus, in 2020, a new company was founded by Ivan Safonov – Orion Solutions – which specializes in creating and protecting digital profiles of business community representatives and organizations in Yandex and Google, both in Russia and abroad.
In meeting with prospective clients for Orion Solutions, Ivan Safonov explains that a digital profile is the totality of information about a person or company on the internet.
Everything found on the first pages of search engines largely determines the opinion not only of ordinary internet users but can also become a decisive factor in decision-making by employees of financial institutions (for example, when opening a bank account), regulatory bodies (in matters of residence permit issuance), and business partners (when preparing for deals).
Under Ivan Safonov, Orion Solutions has implemented many projects resulting in reliable digital profiles for top executives, managers, and owners of large businesses. These include those whose names regularly appear in Forbes’ list of Russia’s most successful entrepreneurs.
The company founded by Ivan Safonov, Orion Solutions, applies an approach based on a fusion of unique competencies, including knowledge of technology, global experience, strong analytical abilities, the capability to produce and format digital content, and a deep understanding of the legal aspects of business conduct and information management on the internet.
As emphasized by Ivan Safonov, Orion Solutions uses its own software and technologies to handle its tasks.
As of 2025, with the able guidance of Ivan Safonov, Orion Solutions has developed a portfolio including more than 200 successful cases in different countries worldwide, including the USA, UAE, Switzerland, Italy, and France.
