The Housewares Charity Foundation (HCF) will honor three industry leaders for their for their philanthropic endeavors during its annual Housewares Cares Gala, Monday, March 3, during The Inspired Home Show 2025 in Chicago.
This year’s HCF honorees are Marcus Lemonis (pictured left), executive chairman of Beyond; Esther Suen (pictured center), vice chairman and managing director of the Simatelex Manufactory Co. Ltd.; and Mark Eichhorn (pictured right), CEO of Anchor Hocking Co. Lemonis will receive the Humanitarian of the Year Award, Suen will receive the Lifetime Humanitarian Award and Eichhorn will receive the Industry Humanitarian Award.
The HCF gala will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. The reception will feature tasting stations by James Beard all-star chefs. Proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), HCF’s legacy charity, as well as the James Beard Foundation, World Central Kitchen and Feeding America.
Since the first gala in 1998, HCF has raised more than $56 million and has been credited with donating more than $33 million to BCRF, along with significant contributions to more than 25 other charitable organizations. BCRF was founded by Evelyn H. Lauder in 1993. Lauder passed away in November 2012 in New York City.
Since 2000, HCF has funded 132 BCRF research projects. Housewares-supported breast cancer advances have included new targets for aggressive triple-negative breast cancers, immunotherapy strategies to prevent and treat metastasis and liquid biopsy technology to detect inherited forms of breast cancer.
The HCF Gala will include a live auction along with the honoree tributes. QVC program host David Venable will emcee the program.
Marcus Lemonis
Marcus Lemonis joined the Beyond board of directors as co-chair in November 2023. He honed his entrepreneurial spirit while working at his family’s automotive dealership. At age 25, Lemonis seized the opportunity to reshape the way recreational vehicles and outdoor equipment were sold. Under his leadership and vision, Camping World would grow to become the nation’s largest RV retailer.
Lemonis next set out to host his own TV show. The hit CNBC series The Profit, in which Lemonis helped turn around and improve businesses, ran for eight seasons. It spawned spinoffs, including the Street of Dreams, featuring Lemonis educating himself and viewers about the financial workings of key industries.
Esther Suen
Esther Suen joined Simatelex in 1986 and was named managing director in 1997. The family-owned private OEM was founded by her father in 1969 and manufactures household appliances for well-known brands in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, including Cuisinart, Keurig, Breville, Newell, Hamilton Beach, Presto, SEB, Zojirushi, Philips and Nespresso. Under Suen’s leadership, the company has experienced rapid growth and has become one of the largest electrical appliance manufacturers in the southern part of China.
At one time, the company employed more than 30,000 factory workers in Guangdong Province. In 2018, in response to the tariff impact on Chinese-made products, Suen set up a factory in Batam, Indonesia, which has become one of the company’s major production locations.
Mark Eichhorn
Mark Eichhorn has spent the majority of his career in the housewares industry, including more than 25 years with Anchor Hocking Co. Starting in public accounting with Deloitte & Touche in 1977, Eichhorn was recruited to join Anchor Hocking shortly after it was acquired by Newell Brands in 1987. Anchor Hocking is the leading manufacturer of glass tableware in North America and currently distributes several top consumer brands in the housewares industry, including Corelle dinnerware, Corningware ceramic bakeware, Chicago Cutlery, Lucaris, Fire King and Ocean glassware, Visions cookware and Oneida kitchen tools and gadgets.
Eichhorn has spent the last 30-plus years at the helm of several well-known housewares companies. In addition to his leadership at Anchor Hocking, he has served as president and CEO of Rubbermaid Home Products and Columbian Home Products. Eichhorn has attended 28 IHA Shows, has served on the board of directors of the International Housewares Association and currently serves on the board of The Cookware & Bakeware Alliance.
To attend the HCF Gala, sponsor an ad in the gala journal, make a donation or learn more about HCF, its honorees and its charities, visit housewarescharity.org or contact Paul Murphy at 508.272.0717 or [email protected].
