General David Petraeus (ret.) photographed Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts as part of ‘The Jefferson Series‘ presented by The New Albany Community Foundation.

 

David Howell Petraeus is a retired United States Army General officer and public official. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus served 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010, to July 18, 2011. His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008. As commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq.

Petraeus has a B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1974 as a distinguished cadet (top 5% of his class). In his class were three other future four-star generals, Martin Dempsey, Walter L. Sharp and Keith B. Alexander. He was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College class of 1983. He subsequently earned an M.P.A. in 1985 and a Ph.D. degree in international relationsin 1987 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He later served as Assistant Professor of International Relations at the United States Military Academy and also completed a fellowship at Georgetown University.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., a New York investment firm, hired Petraeus as chairman of the firm’s newly created KKR Global Institute in May 2013. Petraeus will support its investment teams and portfolio companies when studying new investments, especially in new locations. In December 2014, Petraeus was named a partner at KKR and remains Chairman of the KKR Global Institute.  Petraeus joined the board of advisers of Team Rubicon on June 18, 2013.

 

The New Albany Community Foundation established the Jefferson Series, inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s appreciation for lifelong learning and encouraged by the success of its Remarkable Evening lectures, a collection of stimulating forums featuring some of the world’s most compelling and esteemed thinkers of our time.