From left to right: Erhardt Preitauer, President and CEO of CareSource, Congressman Mike Turner, and Gabriel van Aalst, President and CEO of Dayton Live.
DAYTON, OHIO – Today, Congressman Mike Turner (OH-10), head of the U.S. delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, was joined by Gabriel van Aalst, President and CEO of Dayton Live and Erhardt Preitauer, President and CEO of CareSource, to announce the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, the Victoria Theatre, and CareSource facilities in downtown Dayton as the venues for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's 2025 Spring Session.
“I am very proud for us to be partnering both with CareSource and with Dayton Live to be able to pull off this event in downtown Dayton,” said Congressman Mike Turner. “We are going to invite the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to our home base here at the Schuster Center, the Victoria Theatre, and CareSource facilities that are throughout downtown. We want to show them Main Street USA.”
“Bringing NATO to Dayton will allow us as a community to honor the legacy of the Dayton Peace Accords, while keeping an eye to the future of the Miami Valley,” said Gabriel van Aalst, President and CEO of Dayton Live. “Over the coming months we are excited to partner with Congressman Turner's office, along with our resident companies to explore how culture and the arts can play a role in this momentous occasion.”
“Thank you, Congressman Turner, for your exceptional work and leadership in general, but today, especially for bringing the 2025 Spring Session of the NATO Assembly right here to our amazing Dayton, Ohio,” said Erhardt Preitauer, President and CEO of CareSource. “We at CareSource are so honored to be selected as a host location and to be a part of the NATO village.”
Background:
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly was created in 1955 to serve as a link between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the parliaments of the now 32 NATO nations, with the most recent additions being Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024). The United States has not hosted a session since the Annual Session in Orlando, FL, in the Fall of 2003. The U.S. has never hosted a Spring Session of the Assembly until Dayton 2025.
In 2022, Turner initiated discussions to bring the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to Dayton, aligning with the 30th anniversary of the historic Dayton Accords. This past spring, alongside Governor DeWine, Congressman Turner officially announced Dayton’s selection as the host city for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s 2025 Spring Session from May 23 to May 25, 2025.
Turner has been appointed to NATO PA since January 2009 and has served as Head of the U.S. Delegation since January 2011, when Republicans are in the majority of the U.S. House. Turner served as President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from November 2014 to November 2016. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Defense & Security Committee of NATO PA.