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. He is the founder of Fischer Family Trust which runs projects to improve the use of data in the UK education system. Fischer is co-founder, with James West, of Alamy, an online stock photography agency.He and RM co-founder Mike O'Regan were awarded honorary degrees by the Open University in 2002.