August 18, 2026

Institute for Performance Excellence Launches National Assessment Center

byBaldrige Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New National Assessment Center offers more than 350 customizable self-assessments, digitizes the 2026 Baldrige Excellence Framework, and connects organizations with improvement and workforce development resources.

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 18, 2026. The Institute for Performance Excellence today announced the launch of the National Assessment Center, a centralized digital platform that gives organizations across the United States and internationally access to more than 350 customizable self-assessments, immediate reporting, and improvement guidance.

The launch brings the new 2026 Baldrige Excellence Framework® into a digital self-assessment environment, completing a long-anticipated effort to make the Framework more accessible and actionable as America’s leading quality and excellence framework. Organizations can gather input from their teams, evaluate organizational maturity, identify strengths and gaps, and prioritize opportunities for improvement.

“The National Assessment Center gives organizations a clearer way to understand where they are, where they need to improve, and what to do next,” said Josh Racette, President and CEO of the Baldrige Foundation. “Digitizing the new Baldrige Excellence Framework advances a vision that began at NIST. Through our renewed partnership with NIST, we are advancing the Baldrige Program’s mission by expanding the Framework’s reach and making it easier to access and apply.”

The National Assessment Center is designed for organizations of every size, sector, and stage of development, including businesses, manufacturers, health care organizations, educational institutions, nonprofits, and government agencies. It can also be deployed through partnerships with state and regional performance excellence programs, Manufacturing Extension Partnerships, economic development organizations, associations, chambers of commerce, workforce development organizations, foundations, and other groups. By making these tools broadly available, the Center aims to improve organizational performance, strengthen competitiveness, and increase the positive impact organizations have on the communities they serve.

Organizations using the National Assessment Center will also gain access to tools, resources, educational content, and a professional networking community through the Institute for Performance Excellence. They will also have access to partial scholarships for more than 370 online, self-paced training and certification courses. This connection helps organizations move from identifying performance gaps to building the organizational and workforce capabilities needed to address them.

The Baldrige Foundation partnered with Vessel, a veteran-owned organization, to develop the National Assessment Center through the Institute for Performance Excellence. The platform provides interactive reports, executive summaries, visual dashboards, recommendations supported by artificial intelligence, and structured 30, 60, 90, and 120 day improvement plans.

“Our goal is to transform self-assessment into timely organizational intelligence,” said Derik Ellis, Founder and CEO of Vessel. “The National Assessment Center gives leaders and partner organizations a practical way to focus resources and accelerate improvement.”

Organizations, partners, and potential funders can learn more at: www.nationalassessmentcenter.org

About the Baldrige Foundation

The Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award strengthens competitiveness and community well-being through performance excellence. Through its Institute for Performance Excellence, it provides organizations with education, tools, professional development, networking, and improvement systems, including the National Assessment Center, a platform for customizable self-assessments and organizational intelligence. As a nonprofit partner to the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Foundation supports revisions to and ongoing development of the Baldrige Excellence Framework® and produces the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards Ceremony and the Quest for Excellence® Conference.

About Vessel

Vessel is the creator of the Vessel Smart Assessment Platform, a cloud-based assessment and intelligence platform that enables organizations to transform assessments into actionable insights through AI-assisted analysis, interactive reporting, benchmarking, and continuous improvement tools. Vessel partners with organizations nationwide to modernize assessments and accelerate organizational performance.

Media Contact
LouAnn Scott
Marketing Office
Baldrige Foundation
202-559-9195

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Baldrige Excellence Framework

Overview: Baldrige Framework National Technical Committee

The Baldrige Framework National Technical Committee is a formally convened body of recognized experts, recipients, examiners, and sector representatives charged with maintaining the technical integrity, precision, and consistency of the Baldrige Excellence Framework as a globally recognized standard of excellence.

Operating under the authority of the Baldrige Foundation Board of Directors, and with the approval of the U.S. Department of Commerce, this Advisory Committee, guided by its Chair, ensures that the Framework continues to reflect the highest standards of systems thinking, organizational assessment, and performance excellence, which will allow organizations and communities to improve their performance, achieve results, and sustain excellence.

The Committee’s purpose is to:

Preserve and validate the technical accuracy of the Framework’s concepts, criteria, and structure.
Advise the Foundation on proposed revisions, updates, cross-sector adaptations, and the development of additional tools and resources.
Ensure consistency across versions and sectors, maintaining the Framework’s unity, integration, and interpretive reliability.
Provide expert recommendations regarding emerging practices, data requirements, and alignment with related industry-recognized standards.
Safeguard the integrity of the Baldrige model as a trusted national and global standard.
Partner with others in the Baldrige ecosystem to coordinate a relationship between the Baldrige Excellence Framework and the Baldrige Award Criteria that is based on consistency, logic, and harmony to benefit user groups such as Applicants.

Membership in the Committee represents a professional distinction and reflects deep expertise in applying, teaching, or advancing the Baldrige Excellence Framework. Members serve as the technical stewards of the nation’s standard for organizational excellence. The term of a committee member is one (1) year and is renewable by invitation only.

Baldrige Framework National Technical Committee Listing

Data Table
Role	Name	Title	Company
Chair	Denise Shields	Board Chair	California Council for Excellence
Officer / Ex-Officio	Josh Racette	President & CEO	Baldrige Foundation
Member	Dawn Bailey	Program Manager / Senior Technical Writer and Editor	Baldrige Executive Fellows Program / Forensic Building Science, Inc.
Member	Margot Hoffman	President & CEO / Board Chair	The Partnership for Excellence / Alliance for Performance Excellence
Member	Jan Johnson	President & CEO	Jordan Johnson, Inc.
Member	Cindy Milrany	Chief Strategy Officer/Chief Administrative Officer	Freese & Nichols
Member	Urvi Patel	Senior Director - Quality and Programs	American Health Care Association
Member	JoAnn Sternke	Founder	Leader Excellence
Committee Advisor	Bob Fangmeyer	Program Director	Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
Committee Advisor	Harry Hertz	Director Emeritus - retired	Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
Committee Advisor	Brian Lassiter	President & CEO	Alliance for Performance Excellence

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