The Bermuda International Long Term Insurers and Reinsurers (BILTIR) has lined up retired US Army Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA director, as keynote speaker for its 2026 industry conference – a high-profile booking that brings with it a complicated record.
The Bermuda International Life and Annuity Conference is set for September 28-29, 2026, at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club.
Petraeus currently serves as a partner at KKR, chairman of the KKR Global Institute and chairman of KKR Middle East.
His keynote, BILTIR said, will examine shifting global power dynamics, regional flashpoints and how the evolving security environment is reshaping economic stability, growth and risk management across international financial markets.
"We look forward to welcoming General Petraeus to Bermuda as our keynote speaker," BILTIR chief executive Suzanne Williams said, adding that the event builds on last year's record-breaking attendance.
The booking is unlikely to pass without scrutiny. Petraeus resigned as CIA director in November 2012, just over a year into the job, after an FBI probe uncovered an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.
NPR reported at the time that Petraeus told CIA staff he had "showed extremely poor judgment." CNN reported that the FBI was concerned he could be blackmailed or placed in a vulnerable position as the nation's top intelligence official.
The fallout did not end there. In April 2015, Petraeus pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified materials, drawing two years of probation and a $100,000 fine, the BBC reported.
Court documents described eight personal notebooks Petraeus kept while commanding US forces in Afghanistan, containing the identities of covert officers, war strategy, intelligence capabilities, diplomatic discussions and notes from his conversations with the president. The FBI later found the notebooks in an unlocked desk drawer at his Virginia home.
CNN reported that the original Justice Department and FBI recommendation was for felony charges, later settled as a misdemeanor – an outcome critics including attorney Abbe Lowell publicly called a "profound double standard." The sentencing judge nonetheless told the court: "Make no mistake: This is a serious matter."
Setting the record aside, Petraeus remains one of the most sought-after voices on the corporate speaking circuit, regularly engaged on geopolitical risk, energy security and the global economic order.
For BILTIR, that profile likely explains the booking – a recognizable name capable of drawing senior decision-makers to Bermuda at a time when the industry is grappling with exactly the kind of cross-border, geopolitically charged questions his keynote promises to address.
Williams said the conference remains a forum for leaders across re/insurance to discuss the opportunities and challenges shaping the industry's future.
