Mike David Fischer CBE is the co-founder of the computer company RM plc. Fischer graduated with a physics degree from Oxford University. In 1973, with Mike O'Regan (who had an economics degree from Cambridge), Fischer co-founded Research Machines, a British microcomputer and then software company for the educational market. He was CEO for 24 years and became a non-executive director and lifetime president in 1997. He stood down as a non-executive director in 2004, but retains his position as lifetime president of the company. Fischer is a founder of the Fischer Family Trust which runs projects in health and education. In education, the key project of the Fischer Family Trust has been to change the way school performance is measured in England. Fischer is also Director of SBL, a (Community Interest) Company dedicated to improving patient treatment options through high quality, collaborative and clinically focused research, and co–founder of Alamy Ltd, a stock photography agency. Fisher is also co-founder and Chair of Videoloft Ltd, a cloud video surveillance software platform. He and RM co-founder Mike O'Regan were awarded honorary degrees by the Open University in 2002. Personal life and education Fischer completed an undergraduate degree in physics at Oxford University in 1971 and a second undergraduate degree in physiological sciences at Oxford University in 1978. He has also been awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University in 2002 with the other RM cofounder, Mike O’Regan. Fischer was awarded a CBE for services to Business and to Charity in 2006. Business Ventures RM Fischer and Mike O’Regan founded RM (as Research Machines) in 1973 as a mail-order supplier of electronic components. The company has since been expanded to provide information technology products and services to educational organisations and establishments. Fischer was CEO for 24 years and became a non-executive director and lifetime president in 1997. He stood down as a non-executive director in 2004, but retains his position as lifetime president of the company. After studying Japanese companies, Fischer was heavily influenced by the excellent manufacturing quality standards facilitated by a systemised approach to quality and improvement. This approach is championed by the studies of William Edwards Deming and Joseph M Juran, a.k.a. Six Sigma. According to Fischer, “ensuring high-quality manufacturing standards was the key that would unlock RM's expansion”. Alamy Fischer is the co-founder with James West of Alamy, an online stock photography agency launched in 1999. Alamy was