General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.) is one of the leading battlefield commanders and strategists of our time. He served over 37 years in the US military culminating his career with six consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and NATO/US Forces in Afghanistan. He subsequently served as Director of the CIA, following confirmation by the Senate by a vote of 94-0, during a period of significant achievements in the global war on terror.
General Petraeus is now a Partner with the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in 2013. He serves on corporate boards, is a strategic advisor to multiple firms, is a member of the Simon and Shuster Advisory Board, and is a personal venture capitalist. He also is the Kissinger Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson School and is the co-author, with Andrew Roberts, of the award-winning, New York Times best-selling book, Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.
General Petraeus graduated with distinction from the US Military Academy, earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and has held academic appointments at 5 universities in addition to his current position at Yale. He is the only person in Army history to be the top graduate of both the US Army Ranger School and the year-long Command and General Staff College Course. He is also 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 awards include four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, three Army Distinguished Service Medals the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, two NATO Meritorious Service Medals, the Combat Action Badge, the Ranger tab, and air assault and master parachutist wings. He has also been decorated by 14 foreign countries and is believed to be the only person in uniform to throw out the first pitch of a World Series game and do the coin toss for a Super Bowl. 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, Prospect magazine’s Public Intellectual of the Year, one of US News and World Report’s Top 25 Leaders, Princeton University’s Madison Medalist, and sanctioned by Russia (in 2022).