Ivan was born in Brooklyn, NY, raised and educated in New Jersey and joined the Navy in 1967, where he was ship sail maker, Boatswain mate and third class petty officer during this three tours of Vietnam. When he returned to the U.S., he did odd jobs, one of which was as a body building instructor for Jack LaLanne's health spa in Santa Monica. Later he joined American District Telegraph (ADT) where he learned to install security alarms.

He then joined Standard Alarm, which was eventually bought out by Honeywell. Ivan worked at Honeywell for over 22 years receiving the following awards: Best Installer Western Region, 1988; Protect Our Customer; and Special Award from Music Plus Company. In the fall of 1996, Ivan left Honeywell and in the spring of 1997 began working for Checkpoint/Alarmex as an installation/service technician of security systems. Ivan is now a service technician for Pinkerton Systems Integration.

Ivan lived in Santa Monica for over 20 years, where he was an avid body builder, "rubbing elbows" with the top body builders in the world including Arnold Swartzenegger, Franco Columbo, Frank Zane, Lee Haney and Lou Ferigno while training at Gold's and World Gym in Venice Beach. Ivan enjoys mountain bike riding, roller-skating, radio control racing and camping. When he met Monica at his brother's wedding, the chemistry was evident and they were soon inseparable.