The founder and sole funder of MeaningSphere is Jeff Westphal. Jeff is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, conservationist, the author of a forthcoming book, and the founder of multiple meaning-based ventures, including MeaningSphere.
Prior to his current adventures, Jeff served in a variety of roles at Vertex, Inc., ultimately as CEO and then Chair of the Board. He was instrumental in helping grow Vertex into a global leader in tax software, serving Fortune 500 companies like Apple and Starbucks. As he worked to transform the tax industry, guiding Vertex to 10-fold growth during his 20-year tenure as President and then CEO, he devoted himself to encouraging a values-based collaborative culture, recognized by numerous ‘Best Places to Work’ awards. Vertex went public on the Nasdaq exchange in July 2020 and Jeff retired from the Board of Directors in 2021, having served the company for 33 years.
Integral with his career, Jeff began his own personal journey of discovery. His experiences and learnings at Vertex, combined with his lived experiences at home and in the community, instilled in Jeff a desire to help advance institutional transformation founded upon the primacy of intrinsic meaning. He seeks to serve this vision in three areas about which he has applied experience and about which he is deeply passionate: business, education/equity, and autism.