COLUMBUS — Speaker of the Ohio House Clifford A. Rosenberger (R-Clarksville) was unanimously elected president of the National Speakers Conference by his fellow Speakers of the House at the organization’s recent Executive Committee meeting in Burlington, Vermont.

In 2017, Speakers of the House and their Chiefs of Staff from across the United States will come to Ohio for the 26th annual meeting of the National Speakers Conference (NSC), a bipartisan event which will be hosted by Speaker Rosenberger.

“I am tremendously honored to have been chosen as the next president of the Speakers Conference by my peers, and I am looking forward to showcasing our great state next year,” said Rosenberger.

The National Speakers Conference is part of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with the goal to educate the nation’s top political leaders—Speakers of the House, Senate Presidents, Majority and Minority Leaders, and Pro Tempores — on contemporary public policy issues and aspects of leadership.

Its various educational programs are designed to give these men and women a sense of the high value of public service and the vital role they, as elected representatives of the people, play in our democracy. This mission is approached with a dedication to being impartial arbiters of important public policy issues, harboring no preconceived notions based on party identification or political ideology.

The NSC is the single largest gathering of presiding officers in the nation and over two-thirds of all Speakers typically attend.

“I am especially pleased that Ohio has been selected to host the 2017 National Speakers Conference,” said Stephen Lakis, President of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation. “In our 25 year history, this will be our first-ever national program in the Buckeye State, and Speaker Cliff Rosenberger epitomizes the ‘can do’ spirit of the people of Ohio.”

The conference will take place in Columbus Sept. 6-9 next year.