Not all people are lucky to find their true calling in life. But if this happens, you are destined to achieve a lot in life and make a mark in your professional field. Leonid Monosov was fortunate enough to follow this path; he started as an ordinary foreman at a construction site in Moscow and two decades later became the CEO of a large construction company. Life made some adjustments to this man’s professional biography, but it is to him and his team that the Russian capital owes its modern architectural aesthetics and well-developed infrastructure.
Leonid Monosov: Childhood, Youth, and Life Goals
Leonid Monosov’s biography could have turned out differently if not for a sad twist of fate — at a very young age, the future leader of Moskapstroy lost his mother. She passed away when the boy was 5 years old, and so his father decided to move to Moscow. Before this, the Monosov family lived in the small Belarusian town of Mazyr. This green corner of the country was often referred to as Belarusian Switzerland. The town was indeed very cozy and picturesque, but it did not offer any prospects for ambitious people who dreamed of making a big mark in the world. Leonid’s father knew for certain that his son had both ambitions and leadership potential.
However, in the early sixties, aspiring and driven young people could hardly find any career opportunities in their provincial hometown — one of their options was to go to the local teachers college, the other was to seek happiness in a bigger city. After the death of his wife, Monosov Sr. evaluated the pros and cons of living in Mazyr and decided on moving to Moscow, which ultimately played an important role in his son’s life.
Although it was not easy to settle in the capital of the USSR in those days, the family managed to move to the city in 1963. They made their home in Sokolniki, an old and green city district, which still holds a special place in Leonid Monosov’s heart. Here, in 1965, the boy started first grade at Secondary School No. 315, which would several decades later welcome his children as well. It was here that the experienced teachers helped Leonid Monosov build his strong character. They noticed his penchant for the exact sciences and desire for hard work and self-improvement — all those qualities that would later come in handy in his professional life.
Leonid’s father also paid attention to his son’s strengths and helped him develop his talents; he was the one to set him on the right career path. Monosov Sr. advised his son to try his hand in the construction industry, which valued diligent, punctual, and responsible people. Besides, those were the years when Moscow began to rapidly expand its borders and grow, which meant that competent builders were worth their weight in gold at the time. Leonid Monosov’s father had no doubt that his child would become an excellent builder.
First Steps into Independent Life
Leonid Monosov effortlessly entered the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering, choosing to major in civil and industrial construction. After 5 years at the university, he obtained the universal knowledge and skills to build both residential high-rise buildings and infrastructure facilities. But the problem was that even with vast knowledge and a degree from a prestigious university, getting a good job was not so easy at the time.
Firstly, connections and nepotism sometimes played a greater role in the Soviet practice of job distribution than the personal qualities of university graduates. Secondly, there were not that many truly good job openings, and certified engineers in most cases had to start their careers in blue-collar jobs.
This was the case with Leonid, who had no one to help him get a better job and had to begin his professional journey as a simple foreman. On the other hand, he was sent to work at Glavmospromstroy, a company that was considered a legend in the construction community even back in the day.
The history of this enterprise began in 1937, and one of the first tasks that the Soviet government set for Glavmospromstroy was the relocation of several residential and administrative buildings on Tverskaya Street in Moscow. Such a task had never been performed in Russia before, but the company’s specialists created their own solutions, which proved to be quite successful. All the relocated buildings have survived to this day, and one of them now houses the Government of Moscow (Golitsyn’s mansion). Glavmospromstroy’s portfolio included dozens of constructed, restored, and reconstructed buildings, which today are rightfully considered the architectural pearls of Moscow. Among them were the tower in Ostankino, the main building of Moscow State University, the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, and, of course, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Leonid Monosov came to Glavmospromstroy just before the 1980 Olympics that created the need for dozens of new facilities in Moscow. The company, in which he took on the role of an ordinary foreman, worked on the construction of the stadium in Luzhniki, the Olimpiyskiy sports complex, and a number of hotels and administrative buildings. The young graduate had to monitor the work of experienced builders. They were not easy to get along with, so he had to prove his worthiness in practice and gain authority as a leader. But it is precisely this period that Leonid Monosov remembers with particular warmth and gratitude. After all, his more experienced colleagues helped him succeed as a builder and acquire important knowledge and skills, including:
- how to assign tasks and monitor their progress;
- the art of managing people;
- how to comply with building codes and regulations in various construction projects.
Monosov participated in one of the most ambitious housing development projects, which was executed in Zelenograd. This construction project attracted the attention of the entire Soviet Union and became particularly famous because it was there that they first tested the practice of collective contracting. Later on, Leonid Monosov would repeatedly use this method in his work.
Climbing the Career Ladder
The young, talented, and driven foreman with an engineering degree was quickly noticed by the company’s leaders and began his way up the career ladder. At first, he was promoted to supervisor, then site manager, and chief engineer. Over 20 years, Leonid Monosov had played almost every key role at Glavmospromstroy and in 1999 rose to the position of CEO at the company, which by that time was known as Moskapstroy JSC.
Leonid’s career progress coincided with another landmark and rather ambitious project — in 1994, the company’s builders began the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on Volkhonka Street. It was designed by Zurab Tseriteli, but not many believed in its success back then, because it did not have government funding — everything was financed through donations. A lot of effort went into recreating the authenticity of the original church (destroyed in 1937), while engineering a building that would fit perfectly into the modern infrastructure of the city.
Reality exceeded all expectations; the cathedral was built in less than 6 years, which was an absolute record for the construction of religious buildings at the time. Just to compare: the old Cathedral of Christ the Savior, designed by Konstantin Ton and funded by the government, was built from 1837 to 1860. Today, the new cathedral complex fits perfectly into the surrounding infrastructure and meets all modern requirements — it even has its own underground car park. Leonid Monosov believes that the credit belongs to all those who put their souls into the construction of the cathedral, using their management skills, talent, and resourcefulness to the full. He does not consider this project to be his personal achievement, although, in fact, he supervised every part of the process. Leonid says that such an impressive result was possible only thanks to excellent teamwork.
Apart from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the company’s portfolio, starting from the end of the last century, was expanded by dozens of landmark projects, such as:
- Memorial on Poklonnaya Hill;
- Marriott hotel chain;
- Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre;
- administrative buildings on Sakharov Avenue.
New Opportunities and New Challenges
Over 20 years of work in the industry, Leonid Monosov had traveled a difficult but fascinating path and achieved what many could only dream of achieving — a good position, fame, and financial well-being. However, the desire to grow and move forward made him accept the offer to fill the CEO position at an engineering company called Moskapstroy. This enterprise also had a rich history, but its business activity was only partly related to construction. The company’s specialists selected construction sites for various buildings and structures and then monitored the process of installing and connecting utility lines.
The first thing Leonid did in his new role was to introduce the practice of collective contracting, which helped improve the quality of work and reduce the time spent on its completion. However, the company continued to receive complaints from clients, because other contractors, mainly responsible for the construction works, often performed inadequately. It was then that the head of Moskapstroy came up with the idea to build a full-cycle enterprise that would execute turnkey projects.
It took a lot of time and effort to succeed in such an ambitious endeavor. Leonid Monosov began by creating subdivisions with separate functions and areas of expertise. The next step was to coordinate their operation, and as a result, the company transformed into a big well-oiled machine, with downtime and failures kept to a minimum. At the same time, the Moskapstroy team was coming into its own, and Monosov took special pride in this fact. After all, he had long learned that personnel makes all the difference in any business. Well, maybe almost all the difference.
Very soon, Moskapstroy gained a reputation as one of the most reliable and conscientious contractors in the Russian capital. The property built by this company was known for its high quality and time-tested durability. If Moskapstroy specialists worked on the design, there was no doubt that the apartments in high-rise buildings would be spacious and comfortable. So, it was not surprising that at some point, construction teams from this company were responsible for half of the real estate development projects in the capital. The company easily won contracts and took on the most complex, challenging, and unusual projects. Among them was the reconstruction of the Moscow Zoo and the Vnukovo-2 airport terminal.
However, there was a project in the history of Moskapstroy that the company was particularly proud of. It was the new building of the Manege, which was restored after the fire of 2004. It was executed in such a way that it was possible to preserve the historical look of the building while expanding its usable area and creating a unique modern infrastructure. The company’s teamwork experience was once again put to good use, and the result exceeded all expectations.
Over the course of several years, Leonid Monosov helped the company build an excellent business reputation and increase its assets. The business-owned funds were now enough to independently build residential complexes. This endeavor proved to be successful; the company’s residential buildings are still valued and considered the most comfortable housing options in the existing homes market in Moscow. However, the 2008 crisis largely affected the plans of Moskapstroy and forced it to put many projects on hold. During this difficult period, Leonid Monosov found a brilliant solution that allowed him to keep the business afloat and retain the team.
By the time of the economic collapse, Moskapstroy’s balance sheet included many real assets that could not find their buyers for years because of the crisis. To avoid financial losses, the head of the company decided to rent out finished apartments — and that was the right decision. Soon after, other real estate developers adopted this idea as well, which helped many of them survive the difficult period.
The company emerged from the crisis without suffering any losses and eventually sold the existing apartments at market value. Practically all the key specialists kept their jobs at Moskapstroy; thanks to Monosov’s wise and balanced decisions, his employees earned decent salaries even in the most difficult times.
What does Monosov do today?
The next turn in Leonid’s career occurred in 2012, when he filled the role of the head of AFK Sistema, a company that specialized in investing in promising projects. The corporation was instrumental in bringing major players to the mobile communication, wholesale, retail, and medicine markets. For example, its financial support played an important role in the creation of the OZON marketplace and the bank of the same name.
In 2022, Monosov decided to start his own business; today, he runs a company that successfully invests in real estate development. Over the years, it executed a number of successful projects, including the construction of the Pavshino mall and the Na Ordynke business center.
Family and Children
Not much is known about Leonid Monosov’s personal life; he prefers to keep family-related matters private. The most famous Moscow builder is a married man and father of two children — son Andrey Monosov and daughter Alina Monosova. Both followed in their father’s footsteps and got into the construction industry.
Andrey Monosov has a relevant degree from the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering and now holds an executive role in one of the capital’s property development companies. He has several government awards for his achievements in the real estate development industry. He is married and has two kids.
Alina Monosova received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, related to international business and business administration, at MGIMO. Currently, she is the chief investment officer of a big company. At the same time, she is doing a master’s degree in psychology; she says that this is not her way of changing the career, but rather a personal pursuit to understand the world around her better. Alina Monosova also runs a blog dedicated to life in big cities.