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Business executive, entrepreneur and media personality Marcus Lemonis is scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers at this year’s Rally innovation conference in downtown Indianapolis.
The event’s organizer, Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures, made the announcement Monday morning. Lemonis is the first speaker to be announced for this year’s event, set for Aug. 27-28 at the Indiana Convention Center.
Rally, which debuted last year, is designed to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and educators from a variety of business sectors. The event features keynote speakers, breakout sessions, a demo area for startups, a pitch contest, networking opportunities and one-on-one meetings between entrepreneurs and potential investors.
Lemonis, 50, is the chairman and CEO of Illinois-based Camping World Holdings Inc. which sells recreational vehicles and related products through its more than 200 retail locations. He’s also the executive board chair of Utah-based Beyond Inc., an online retail company that owns brands including Overstock, Bed Bath & Beyond, Baby & Beyond and others. Beyond Inc. formerly did business as Overstock.com Inc. Overstock acquired the Bed Bath & Beyond brand last year after the retailer went into bankruptcy, and Overstock changed its name to Beyond.
Lemonis was also the star of “The Profit,” a business-themed reality show in which he helped small companies identify and solve their business problems—sometimes investing his own money in the companies. The show aired on CNBC from 2013 to 2021.
“Marcus Lemonis is the perfect person to show innovators at Rally that the core business principles of people, process and product apply to all entrepreneurs across all sectors,” Elevate Ventures CEO Christopher Day said in a written statement. “His remarkable journey to the helm of America’s largest RV retailer and the hit TV show ‘The Profit,’ is a testament to the power of perseverance, grit and creativity.”
As was also the case in 2023, this year’s programming at Rally will focus on six topic areas, which organizers call studios: entrepreneurship, software, health care, hard tech, sports tech, and agriculture and food.
Last year’s event drew more than 3,110 attendees from 39 states and 15 countries. The 2023 keynote speaker lineup included athletes Peyton Manning and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and media personality Guy Raz, among others.
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Perhaps Marcus could also find time to visit his employees in Lebanon ay the Camping World distribution center.
As a business owner who really liked his show The Profit, I have to say that I (and many others I know) have been severly disappointed in Camping World since he purchased it. He clearly does not follow his own catchphrase, “People , Processes, Product.” The service their is so subpar, people travel hours out of their way to have service done elsewhere, processes are lacking in every area of service they perform, and product is probably the best out of the three. I am specifically speaking of their Southside location. When you are a business owner, in my opinion, you have to have a top down mentality and it seems like he has gotten very lackadaisical concerning his own company.