Igor Ansoff

Who was Igor Ansoff?

H. Igor Ansoff was a Russian American, applied mathematician and business manager. He is known as the father of Strategic management.

Ansoff was born in Vladivostok, Russia, in 1918. He emigrated to the United States with his family and graduated from New York City's Stuyvesant High School in 1937. Ansoff studied general engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology and continued his education there, receiving his Master of Science degree in the Dynamics of Rigid Bodies.

Following Stevens Institute, he studied at Brown University where he received a Doctorate in applied mathematics with a major in Mathematical Theory of Elasticity and plasticity and a minor in Vibration. After coming to California he joined UCLA in the Senior Executive Program. He was a distinguished professor at United States International University for 17 years, where several institutes continue his work in strategic management research.

During World War II, he was a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve, and served as a liaison with the Russian Navy and as an instructor in physics at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Professionally, Ansoff is known worldwide for his research in three specific areas: