David Petraeus

General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), is a Partner with the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in June 2013. He is also a personal venture capitalist, serves on the boards of OneStream and Optiv, and is a Strategic Advisor for Semperis and Advanced Navigation. He is the co-author, with British historian Andrew Roberts, of Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine (October 2023).

General Petraeus previously served in government for 38-1/2 years, culminating his military career with six consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were in combat – including the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and NATO and US Forces in Afghanistan. He then served as Director of the CIA, following Senate confirmation by a vote of 94-0, during a period of significant achievement in the fight against Islamist extremists.

General Petraeus graduated with distinction from the US Military Academy, earned a Ph.D. at Princeton University, and completed a Fellowship at Georgetown. He is also the only person in US Army history to be the top graduate of both the Army’s demanding Ranger Course and the year-long Command and General Staff College Course. He has held academic appointments at the US Military Academy, the City University of New York’s Honors College, Harvard’s Belfer Center, and the University of Southern California. He is currently the Kissinger Fellow at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs, Co-Chairman of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Advisory Council, Senior Vice President of the Royal United Services Institute, and a member of the Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, and Aspen Strategy Group.

His many awards include four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, the Combat Action Badge, the Ranger tab, and master parachutist wings. He has also been decorated by 14 foreign countries and is believed to be the only person to throw out the first pitch of a World Series game and do the coin toss for a Super Bowl in uniform. He was runner-up to Vladimir Putin for Time Person of the Year in 2007, the Daily Telegraph Man of the Year, twice a Time 100 selectee, three times a Foreign Policy top public intellectual, one of US News and World Report’s Top 25 Leaders, and sanctioned by Russia in 2022.