Philip Ly

Philip Ly is one of the automotive industry's leading innovators in video merchandising, artificial intelligence, and digital retailing. As Founder and CEO of LESA Automotive and CEO of ImagineAutos.com, Philip has spent the past decade helping dealerships transform the online shopping experience through technology that builds trust, increases transparency, and drives measurable sales results. Today, LESA is recognized as the industry's leading provider of dealership walkaround video solutions, serving more than 1,000 dealerships across North America and helping retailers create engaging, AI-powered shopping experiences for every vehicle on their lot. What makes Philip's story particularly remarkable is the journey that brought him here. Born in Vietnam, Philip and his family escaped the country as refugees following the Vietnam War. In 1978, they fled under the cover of darkness aboard a small fishing boat, spending seven perilous days at sea while battling violent storms, scarce resources, and even pirate attacks before reaching the refugee camp of Bi-Dong, Malaysia. After nearly a year living in the camp and facing uncertain prospects for asylum, the family sought refuge in Sweden before Philip and his sister were eventually granted asylum in the United States. Arriving in America as a teenager with limited English, Philip embraced every opportunity before him. As an ESL student in New Jersey, he excelled academically, graduating third in his high school class, earning membership in the National Honor Society, captaining the tennis team, and ultimately earning acceptance to Rutgers University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. He later earned his MBA from the University of Connecticut, combining a strong technical foundation with business leadership skills that would define his entrepreneurial career. Philip began his professional career in enterprise technology, spending more than 15 years designing and implementing complex technology solutions for some of the world's largest organizations. He served as a Senior IT Specialist at IBM, where he led enterprise infrastructure and disaster recovery initiatives, and previously worked as an SAP Consultant for Hewlett-Packard, helping Fortune 500 companies implement mission-critical business systems. This experience provided the technical expertise and strategic thinking that would later fuel his entrepreneurial success. Throughout his career, Philip has consistently recognized emerging technology trends long before they became mainstream. His first entrepreneurial venture was a successful eCommerce business that generated nearly $2 million in annual revenue before being sold. He later founded IDoStream.com, one of the country's earliest live-streaming platforms for weddings and corporate events. Years before livestreaming became commonplace, Philip envisioned the power of live video to connect people from anywhere in the world. The platform received national recognition and was featured by Fox News, CNN, NBC News, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe, establishing Philip as an early pioneer in online video technology. Recognizing that video would fundamentally reshape automotive retailing, Philip turned his attention to the dealership industry by founding LESA Automotive. His vision was straightforward but transformative: enable every dealership to create professional walkaround videos for every vehicle in inventory while making the process simple enough to scale across thousands of vehicles. That vision has become reality. Today, LESA Automotive is the market leader in dealership video merchandising, empowering more than 1,000 dealerships to produce engaging vehicle videos that increase shopper confidence, improve inventory merchandising, and accelerate vehicle sales. Many of the company's earliest customers remain active users more than a decade later, a testament to the platform's ongoing innovation and dealer-first philosophy. By partnering with inventory merchandising providers across North America, LESA has become the standard for scalable vehicle video production. Philip's passion for innovation continues through ImagineAutos.com, a next-generation automotive marketplace built around video rather than static photos. Leveraging artificial intelligence, the platform allows shoppers to navigate directly to the portions of a vehicle video that matter most to them — whether it's the interior, navigation system, cargo space, wheels, or technology features. This AI-powered shopping experience reflects Philip's belief that consumers increasingly expect immersive, transparent digital experiences before ever visiting a dealership. Today, Philip is widely recognized as an authority on: • Artificial Intelligence in Automotive Retail • Digital Retailing Strategy • Video Merchandising and Vehicle Marketing • Automotive eCommerce • Customer Experience Innovation • Dealer Technology Platforms • AI-Powered Shopping Experiences • Digital Transformation A highly respected speaker, entrepreneur, and technology visionary, Philip frequently shares his expertise with dealer groups, automotive executives, technology providers, and industry organizations on the future of automotive retail. His presentations combine enterprise technology expertise, entrepreneurial insight, and practical dealership experience to help retailers understand how AI, automation, video, and emerging technologies are redefining the customer journey. From surviving a refugee journey across the South China Sea to becoming one of the automotive industry's foremost technology innovators, Philip's career reflects resilience, perseverance, and an unwavering commitment to solving complex problems through innovation. As Philip often says: "As a refugee, I value tenacity and perseverance. I recognize there's not always one solution to a problem. I recognize the best solution might be one we have yet to imagine." Today, that philosophy continues to drive his mission of helping dealerships embrace the next generation of digital retailing and customer engagement, making him one of the industry's most influential voices on the future of automotive technology.