About

“What truly matters to each person is all that matters.”

I am all about helping people get in touch with what truly matters to them.

Not what I think should matter to others, not what they were told growing up should matter and not what others now say should matter.

What I’ve learned through experience and careful study is that when one gets in touch with what truly matters to them, life becomes richer, deeper and more fulfilling. I imagine a world where everyone feels engaged in learning and working that’s deeply meaningful and personally fulfilling.

THAT’s what guides me.

Hi there! I’m Jeff Westphal, an experienced corporate executive, entrepreneur, philanthropist, corporate culture enthusiast, and conservationist. I had the honor to lead Vertex Inc. (VERX), the corporate tax software company, for two decades, and I’ve since founded two ventures, MeaningSphere™ and Mosaic™. I am excited to share my experience in my upcoming book, “My Journey to the MeaningSphere”.

I grew up in a suburban area of Philadelphia, the grandson of Italian and German immigrants. As a teen, I worked in a book bindery, a landscaping crew, and moved furniture. I still remember the nights around the dinner table stuffing envelopes for my father’s then-new business, Vertex. After a year of law school and a couple more in the advertising business, I found myself joining Vertex as its 29th employee in 1988.

Reacting to my father’s out-of-the-blue invitation to join the company, I turned down another job offer with Marriott Corporation and said yes to my Dad. At Vertex, I held various roles, ultimately becoming CEO and then Chair of the Board. I helped grow Vertex into a global leader in tax software, serving Fortune 500 companies like Apple and Starbucks. During my 20-year leadership tenure, I focused on fostering a values-based collaborative culture, earning numerous ‘Best Places to Work’ awards. Vertex went public on the Nasdaq exchange in July 2020, and I retired from the Board of Directors in 2021 after 33 years of service to the company.

I was blessed by some life and career-changing insights thanks to the support of my many mentors, coaches, and colleagues. Singular among them was my realization that I didn’t really understand my own worklife motivations. Inspired by this discovery, I aspired to create an environment where everyone was encouraged to connect to the personal meaning they associated with our work together. My experiences at Vertex, combined with my life at home and in the community, fueled my passion for advancing institutional transformation founded on intrinsic meaning.

Now, in this post-corporate chapter of my life, I aim to serve this vision in three areas: business, education, and autism.

My new ventures, MeaningSphere™ and Mosaic™, are born from my collaborative discovery at work and my children’s learning experiences. Mosaic accelerates experiential, collaborative learning that is meaningful to the learner, while MeaningSphere supports people seeking deeper meaning in their work, effectively supporting a continuum of self-development grounded in what really matters to the individual.

And a few other things were squeezed in along the way:

• My wife, Jenifer, founded Wavelength Productions, an independent film company. Together with Greenwich Productions, they released the Emmy-nominated feature documentary film, Let Me Be Me, on February 25, 2022. Let Me Be Me explores our family’s relationship-based, intrinsic meaning-centered approach to supporting our son’s journey with autism.
• A collaboration with Dr. Fredricka Reisman led to creating Drexel University Reisman Center for Translational Research in Creativity and Motivation. Dr. Reisman joined other educational experts in a major study on the learning preferences of Americans with school-aged children. The results were published in the International Journal of Progressive Education.
• Dr Reisman, Dr Penny Hammrich (dec.) and I co-authored a book published by Cambridge University Press in February 2024 titled Connecting Creativity and Motivation Research With End Users.
• Recipient of the American Creativity Association (ACA) Champion of Creativity Award and served as a panelist for the ACA World Conference, Creativity in Action.
• Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Drexel University’s Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship, mentoring students to bring their business ideas to fruition.
• Panelist at the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, Korea, alongside Dr. Isaac Getz (Author, executive advisor and ESCP professor) and Joseph Jaworski (Chairman of Generon International and the bestselling author of “Synchronicity”), discussing the success of organizations with leadership principles based on freedom and trust.

I invite you to join me by beginning your own journey to find what matters to you.