Marcus Lemonis Insider Information

Marcus Lemonis is a Lebanese-born businessman, TV personality, and the CEO of Camping World, Good Sam Enterprises, Gander Outdoors, and The House Boardshop, as well as the producer and star of CNBC reality show, The Profit.

Left at a Beirut orphanage in the midst of civil war and unrest, he was adopted by a Florida couple, Sophia and Leo Lemonis, as an infant. 

Lemonis grew up with exposure to the automotive industry from a young age. His great uncle, Anthony Abraham, owned two of the country’s largest Chevrolet dealerships, and Ford and Chrysler executive, Lee Iacocca, was a friend of the family and later a mentor and investor.

After graduating with a political science degree and making an unsuccessful political bid for the Florida House of Representatives, Lemonis turned back to the auto industry, working for his grandfather’s South Florida car dealership until it was acquired in 1997 by AutoNation. He stayed on with the new ownership in a variety of management and sales roles until Iacocca approached him to help create what he hoped would be the country’s largest RV company. 

Together, they acquired Holiday RV Superstores, and from 2001 to 2003, Lemonis served as CEO. He then co-founded a company, FreedomRoads, where he began acquiring more dealerships. In 2006, FreedomRoads merged with Camping World, with Lemonis at the helm as CEO, and in 2011, it merged again with Good Sam Enterprises.

Camping World went public in 2016 with market value around $2 billion. The company acquired camping, hunting, and fishing retailer, Gander Mountain, and online skateboard, wakeboard, and outdoor gear retailer, The House Boardshop in 2017. Today, Camping World is America’s largest retailer of recreational vehicles and related products.

Lemonis had several TV appearances on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice and ABC’s Secret Millionaire, and in 2013, he launched his CNBC reality show, The Profit, in which he finds struggling small businesses to invest in. 

Lemonis has received numerous accolades, including a feature in Crain's Chicago Business 40 under 40 in 2005, and recognition as Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008. In 2020, he launched both The Lemon-Aid Foundation and The Business Learning Center as ways to provide resources for struggling businesses and individuals. The Business Learning Center is a free, online business tool with myriad resources for entrepreneurs. Lemonis and his wife endowed the Lemon-Aid Foundation with a $50 million pledge to support underserved communities and small businesses.

Lemonis received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Marquette University. He lives in Lake Forest, Illinois with his wife, Bobbi.