Andrew Ian Tweedie (1947- ), founder and editor-in-chief of Grace's Guide and non-executive director of Applegate Marketplace [1].
He has spent his working life in engineering and industry. From learning the basics in an engineering workshop to being director of a number of companies in the UK, Japan, Korea and India, his employers have included Schlumberger, Smiths Industries, Spirent Communications and TDK. He has also founded a number of companies on his own account.
In 1997 he and his wife, working from a room in their home, set up Applegate, a web based commercial business listing the companies in British industry with their products and services. The company grew in ten years to employ more than 120 staff.
In 2007 he took early retirement and took up a non-executive role in the Applegate business, while the day-to-day running was passed to a management team, giving him the time and opportunity to start the not-for-profit Grace’s Guide project. This project brought together a life-time interest in the history of industry in the UK and in the remarkable lives of the engineers who led it, their products and the companies they created.
Grace’s Guide in now a registered charity and was named after one of his grand-daughters who was born as the project commenced.