Establishing a collaborative, inclusive standard for corporate tax guidance

Jeff Westphal is currently the CEO of Vertex. Founded in 1978, Vertex is a leading provider of corporate tax software and tax services. The company is known for its unique organizational philosophy, which prizes integrity, diversity, excellence, and personal growth. With offices located around the world, Vertex currently employs over 850 professionals and serves over 10,000 clients, including global industry leaders such as Starbucks, Honda Motor Company, SAP, and Verizon Wireless. Jeff has been with the company since 1988. In 2001, the same year he was named CEO, Vertex was named "The Best Place to Work in Pennsylvania.” In addition to his work at Vertex, Jeff serves on the boards of multiple area nonprofits. He and his wife are also the founders of Kyle's Treehouse, a web-based resource for families raising children with autism spectrum disorder.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Can you take us through the history of Vertex?

JEFF WESTPHAL: The history of Vertex starts with my father having purchased the rights to a small sales tax rate database that he had developed when he was employed by Management Assistance, Incorporated. They were going to phase that business out, and he had always wanted to be in business for himself. He said, “Could I buy the rights to that?” He and my mother opened Vertex Inc. in 1978, in Devon, Pennsylvania.

Q. What led you to join the company? Was it where you saw yourself from an early age?

A. I went to University of Richmond, and took a year of law school at George Washington University Law School. I got a job at Earle Palmer Brown Advertising. I worked on Hechinger Home Center account and a couple of other accounts, moved to Philadelphia and joined what was then the Weightman Group, and Schaefer Advertising—working on the Scott Paper Company account and Frankfurt Trust Bank and a hotel chain. I had then been offered a position to join Marriott Corporation to be marketing director for Roy Rogers.

I was 26, engaged, and had accepted the job and was going to move back down to the Washington, DC area. My father cornered me at the grill and said, “Why don’t you come work for me?” I said, “Okay.” That was our entire conversation—the only conversation we ever had about joining the then 29-person Vertex Inc.

That was 1988. My father had nurtured Vertex from just he and my mother and 100 clients for a sales tax rate database, and in 10 years grown it to a nearly $5 million business. It had well exceeded his dreams, and he was really ready to enjoy his success and begin playing less of a role. So, he gave me an enormous amount of freedom and really I started leading the company on a day to day basis by 1995.

My sisters and I ultimately acquired a controlling portion of the business between 1995 and 2001, when I became CEO officially. My sister Stevie just transitioned Chairperson of the Board to myself after 15 successful years of building a truly independent board of directors. We’ve had and continue to have three truly qualified senior corporate executives sit on our board and they are true fiduciary board of directors.

Q. In your own words, what sets Vertex apart as a corporate tax service provider?

A. What does Vertex really do with corporate tax? If you think about a corporation and its worldwide operations and multiple subsidiaries and multiple acquisitions: the actual accounting for its taxes. Making sure the customer gets charged the right tax at the cash register via the catalog or in a business-to-business transaction is actually an incredibly complex activity. We support the customer at every stage in that process: from designing a system to implementing our system and configuring it for their unique internal system requirements—which are different from customer to customer—to helping them train and educate their staff and ultimately continue to advance the system over a period of time—whether that’s US sales and use, global VAT, US corporate income tax, US payroll tax. We’re the payroll system inside of Oracle’s HR Payroll Solutions. In any of those areas, Vertex is known as the enterprise tax solutions expert.

Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn

ABOUT OFFIT KURMAN

Offit Kurman is one of the fastest-growing, full-service law firms in the Mid-Atlantic region. With over 120 attorneys offering a comprehensive range of services in virtually every legal category, the firm is well positioned to meet the needs of dynamic businesses and the people who own and operate them. Our eight offices serve individual and corporate clients in the Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Northern Virginia markets, as well as the Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City metropolitan areas. At Offit Kurman, we are our clients’ most trusted legal advisors, professionals who help maximize and protect business value and personal wealth. In every interaction, we consistently maintain our clients’ confidence by remaining focused on furthering their objectives and achieving their goals in an efficient manner. Trust, knowledge, confidence—in a partner, that’s perfect.

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Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

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