Powerhouse Planning has been recognized with a 2026 Global Recognition Award for building a remote workforce model that consistently delivers measurable results for clients while creating a genuinely supportive environment for its team members, demonstrating exceptional achievement in Workplace Culture.

Founded by Jessica Bertsch, a Coast Guard spouse who understood firsthand the challenges faced by military families, Powerhouse Planning was built on a straightforward premise: skilled professionals, particularly military spouses, were being underutilized because traditional employment structures did not accommodate their mobile lifestyles. Bertsch built a fully remote, freelance team that operates as a single, coordinated unit on behalf of clients, ensuring each engagement is managed with precision and accountability. The organization has since maintained a 95% client satisfaction rate and a 95% client retention rate over the past 12 months, with many partnerships extending well beyond three years.

What distinguishes Powerhouse Planning from typical staffing or freelance platforms is the intentionality of its matching process, which aligns each client with a customized team selected for technical skills and cultural compatibility. This deliberate alignment has produced consistent, measurable results, with 96% of clients rating the team highly in responsiveness, professionalism, and quality of work. These figures represent a sustained operational standard that few organizations, remote or otherwise, can achieve and maintain over time.

Leadership Rooted in Purpose

Bertsch has built something that most remote organizations struggle to sustain, which is a genuine sense of community among a geographically dispersed team of freelancers who operate across the United States. Monthly “PowerHours” and “Empower Hours” (Lunch and Learns) bring team members together to share knowledge, develop professionally, and build meaningful connections despite physical distance. These structured sessions have contributed directly to an 84% team member satisfaction rate, reflecting an internal culture that is actively cultivated rather than left to form on its own.

Leadership at Powerhouse Planning scored at the highest level across all four evaluated dimensions, including vision and strategy implementation, the ability to inspire and motivate others, ethical decision-making and integrity, and encouraging innovation and creativity within the field. Global Recognition Awards uses the Rasch model to create a linear measurement scale that allows for precise, objective comparisons across applicants who excel in different areas, ensuring that high scores reflect genuine distinction rather than the relative ease of a particular category. Bertsch’s leadership profile across all four dimensions places Powerhouse Planning among the top-performing organizations evaluated this cycle, reinforcing the strength and consistency of its people-first approach.

A Model Built on Accountability and Giving Back

Powerhouse Planning’s commitment to accountability extends well beyond its client deliverables, reaching into the broader community through its “Share the Goodness” initiative, which directs 10% of all profits to organizations and individuals in need worldwide. This is a structural commitment embedded in how the business operates, reflecting core values of integrity, accountability, and excellence in deliverables, rather than a peripheral effort tied to the organization’s public image. The Empowering the Homefront program, launched in October 2022, furthers this mission by providing career guidance, community support, and professional resources specifically for military spouses who face unique career challenges due to the demands of military life.

The Powerful Partnership Award program recognizes clients who have maintained relationships with Powerhouse Planning for 3, 5, or over 7 years, serving as a formal acknowledgment of the longevity and quality of these engagements. Retaining clients at a 95% rate over the past year, while simultaneously maintaining high team satisfaction scores and delivering consistent quality across engagements, demonstrates that the organization has established a sustainable operational model built for the long term. Client relationships of this depth and duration speak directly to the execution quality and trust that Powerhouse Planning has built through consistent, principled service delivery.

Final Words

Powerhouse Planning has demonstrated that a remote, freelance-based workforce model can achieve strong, institutional-grade performance when leadership prioritizes culture, accountability, and intentional team design across every level of the organization. Its metrics across client satisfaction, retention, and team engagement are not isolated achievements but indicators of a system that consistently functions at a high level, which is precisely what distinguished this application during the evaluation process. The organization’s dual focus on delivering measurable value to clients while genuinely investing in the people doing the work reflects a standard of excellence that aligns directly with what a 2026 Global Recognition Award is designed to recognize.

Alex Sterling, a spokesperson for Global Recognition Awards, noted his perspective on the selection, saying, “Powerhouse Planning exemplifies what it looks like when strong leadership translates into real outcomes, and its performance data, combined with the depth of its community investment, made this one of the clearest cases of sustained excellence we reviewed this cycle.” Powerhouse Planning has earned this recognition through consistent execution, principled leadership, and a business model built to create lasting impact for its clients, its team, and the broader community it serves. The organization offers a clear example of how purpose-driven leadership, when supported by strong systems and genuine accountability, can deliver meaningful, measurable results.