About Andy
Andy Gibson is an award-winning entrepreneur and author who specialises in helping people make the most of their minds.
He is the founder and Head Gardener of Mindapples, the campaign he started in 2008 in response to the lack of attention being given by policymakers and campaigners to public mental health. Mindapples has since gone on to reach hundreds of thousands of people around the world with positive messages about mental health and wellbeing.
His book A Mind for Business (Pearson, 2015) was WHSmith’s Business Book of the Month and is based on Mindapples’ popular workplace training programmes. The follow-up, The Mind Manual (Hamlyn, 2018), brings together a decade of work advising the public and businesses on mental health, wellbeing and performance.
Before that, he co-founded the influential social web start-up School of Everything in 2006, which won several awards for its innovative work connecting independent learners with teachers in local areas. His previous written works include Social by Social, the UK’s first practical guide to using social media for social good, and many policy papers and thought leadership pieces about social innovation and digital public services.
Andy has worked with some of the biggest brands in global business, including most of the world’s top investment banks, Tesco, NewsCorp, L’Oreal, Gowling, Lendlease, Accenture, Gatwick Airport, HS2, the Wellcome Trust, the Nature Conservancy, the NSPCC, Médecins Sans Frontières and Save the Children.
He holds degrees in history and psychology, and has advised the UK Government on health promotion, supported many entrepreneurs to launch and grow their ventures, and speaks internationally about business innovation and social change. He’s also a former Trustee of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and Conway Hall Ethical Society. Wired magazine once named him the 78th most influential person in UK technology – although they changed their minds again the following year.
He lives in London but writes in Weymouth.
Headshots and photographs
