General David Petraeus is a Partner at the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he founded in mid-2013. He also serves on the boards of Optiv and OneStream, is a Strategic Advisor to Semperis, and is Chairman of the International Advisory Board of Advanced Navigation.
Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served more than 37 years in the United States military, culminating in six consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were in combat. His leadership roles included command of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. Following his retirement from the military, and after Senate confirmation by a 94–0 vote, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency during a period marked by significant achievements in the fight against terrorism.
General Petraeus has held numerous academic and policy positions. He taught at the United States Military Academy in the mid-1980s, served as Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Honors College of the City University of New York from 2013 to 2016, and was a Judge Widney Professor at the University of Southern California for six years, while also serving as a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. He was Co-Chairman of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Advisory Council for more than nine years. He is currently the Kissinger Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson School, Senior Vice President of the Royal United Services Institute, and a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Aspen Strategy Group. He also serves on the boards of the Atlantic Council, the Institute for the Study of War, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and numerous other veterans service organisations.
General Petraeus is co-author, together with British historian Andrew Roberts of Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine. He graduated with distinction from the United States Military Academy and earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He is the only individual to have been the top graduate of both the year-long Command and General Staff College course and the US Army Ranger School.
