Adriana Royal is the Vice President of Strategy & Innovation at Athene, where she helps drive forward-looking initiatives that support the company’s mission to protect and grow retirement savings through innovative financial solutions. In this role, she contributes to strategic planning and innovation efforts that strengthen Athene’s position in the evolving retirement services and insurance landscape.
With a career spanning strategy, customer experience, and insurtech innovation, Adriana brings a multidisciplinary perspective to the intersection of financial services and technology. Prior to joining Athene, she served as Head of Life & Retirement Products and Solutions at Unqork, where she focused on advancing digital solutions for life and retirement products. Her work supported the modernization of insurance platforms and the development of innovative product strategies designed to improve operational efficiency and customer outcomes.
Adriana has also contributed to the broader insurtech ecosystem as an InsurTech Discovery Advisor at InsurTech NY, where she helped identify emerging technologies and trends shaping the future of the insurance industry. Earlier in her career, she served as a Customer Experience & UX Advisor at Finch, and previously led customer experience initiatives as Head of Customer Experience for Blackboard Insurance at AIG. In these roles, she focused on enhancing digital experiences, optimizing user journeys, and aligning product design with evolving customer expectations in the insurance market.
Adriana holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Strategy from NYU Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Georgetown University. Her academic background, combined with her professional experience across strategy, innovation, and customer experience, enables her to bring thoughtful insight into how insurers can adapt to technological change and deliver long-term value for policyholders and partners.
As a conference speaker, Adriana shares practical perspectives on insurance innovation, digital transformation, customer experience, and the future of retirement solutions, drawing from her experience working across strategy, insurtech partnerships, and product innovation within leading financial services organizations.
