David H. Petraeus

Kissinger Senior Fellow

Senior Fellow

Office location

Horchow Hall

55 Hillhouse Avenue

About

General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus is a partner and chairman of the KKR Global Institute, where he advises on global markets, geopolitics, and strategic risk. Before joining KKR in 2013, he served more than 37 years in the U.S. Army, culminating in six consecutive commands, including leadership of the Iraq Surge, U.S. Central Command, and coalition forces in Afghanistan. After retiring from the military, Petraeus was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he oversaw major counterterrorism operations, launched key digital modernization initiatives, and strengthened the agency's workforce. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he also earned a Ph.D. in international relations from Princeton University. Petraeus has taught at West Point and held academic appointments at Harvard, the University of Southern California, and the City University of New York.

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Full Biography

General (US Army, Ret.) David H. Petraeus is a partner and chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in May 2013. He is also a member of the boards of directors of Optiv and FirstStream, a venture investor in more than 15 startups, and engaged in a variety of academic endeavors. Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Following retirement from the military and after Senate confirmation by a vote of 94-0, he served as Director of the CIA during a period of significant achievements in the global war on terror, the establishment of important Agency digital initiatives, and significant investments in the Agency’s most important asset, its human capital.

General Petraeus graduated with distinction from the U.S. Military Academy, and he is the only person in Army history to be the top graduate of both the demanding U.S. Army Ranger School and the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College. He also earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.

General Petraeus taught international relations and economics at the U.S. Military Academy in the mid-1980s, he was a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Honors College of the City University of New York from 2013 through 2016, and he was for 6 years a Judge Widney Professor at the University of Southern California and a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute, Co-Chairman of the Global Advisory Council of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Senior Vice President of the Royal United Services Institute, and a Member of the Trilateral Commission, as well as a member of the boards of the Atlantic Council, the Institute for the Study of War, and over a dozen veterans service organizations.