Robert Fisher

Robert has considerable experience as a CEO specialising in business growth, acquisitions, mergers, and change management. Born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland, Robert joined the international publishing firm of William Collins, now part of HarperCollins within News Corporation. As a management trainee, he graduated from the Institute of Marketing in London and later attended Strathclyde University Business School. Transferred by the Collins Group to Johannesburg in the 1970s, Robert was heavily involved in the growth and modernisation of their regional interests, leading to his appointment as Managing Director – Southern Africa. In the mid 1980s, Robert turned round a similar operation in New Zealand, and after three years went on to the UK to create a new division as MD of HarperCollins Cartographic with responsibility for publishing world-leading maps and atlases. In 1993, Robert was invited by Pearson plc to become MD of their educational companies in Australia and New Zealand, then known as Longman. He was also made a Director of Penguin Books in both Australia and New Zealand and later a Director of the Australian Publishers Association and Copyright Agency Limited. More recently Robert was Managing Director of The Ink Group in Australia and New Zealand, integrating the Company into American Greetings, and afterwards CEO of the family-owned Collins Booksellers group in Australia. Throughout his career, Robert has concentrated on forming or reconstructing businesses around relationships with each leadership team, centred on both mutual consultation and their direct involvement in the formulation of change and development strategies. Robert loves music and sings in the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir. He married Myra, a teacher from Scotland, and together they have proudly brought up their two professional daughters who have thrived on the rigours of moving around the world.