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Sal Bolaños is an award-winning design leader and Senior Director of Product Design at TransUnion, recognized for his expertise across brand marketing, product, sales, and modernization across different technology stacks. Under his leadership, TransUnion’s UX team demonstrated rapid impact with numerous small wins in product enhancements and user research, earning a key seat at the executive table within the first year. His work focuses on linking human-centered design to business outcomes such as increased revenue, reduced costs, and expanded market share. Notable speaking engagements include presentations at Finovate 2024 in San Francisco and the Chicago Experience Assembly, where he shared forward-looking experience strategies. Sal is also a prolific contributor to UX publications and podcasts, helping shape industry practices with talks on ROI of user testing, collaborative culture in product design, and inclusive product development.
In his downtime, Sal loves drinking red wine with his wife and friends, chasing his baby girls around the house, and rooting for his beloved Chicago White Sox and the Bulls. You can also catch Sal giving back to his hometown community East Chicago, Indiana where he helps raise money to fund college scholarships for the underserved communities.
Workshops, written pieces & podcasts
2024: Fire Side Chat – Guest speaker at Chicago Experience Assembly covering “Experience strategies that will shape your industry for 2025 and beyond.
2024: Presenter & Speaker – Guest speaker at Finovate in San Francisco.Â
2023: The ROI of User Testing – Behind close door event on the ROI of testing your ideas, hypothesis and more.Â
2022: MEDIUM – Will You Sign Our 2022 UX & Design Yearbook?
2022: Fail Faster Podcast – (Episode 241) What is this UX research stuff. (Listen)
2021: Fail Faster Podcast – (Episode 198) A collaborative culture leads to great products that are inclusive (Listen)
2021: START IT UP – What Product Leaders Can Take Away from this Four-Year Trump Product Experiment
2021: MEDIUM – Long Distance UX Relationships During The Pandemic
2018: PRINT MAG – Strategic Implications from Walmart.com’s Redesign
2018: MEDIUM – Thank You Experience
2013: lux and concord – featured Photography for ABC’s Bachelor feature
2018: MEDIUM – CX & Shopper Marketing Experience Mapping
2015: Pluralsight – Developing UX for an iOS Social Media App
Active Side Projects
START IT UP – Business publication on Medium – Writer & Contributor
UX Collective – The largest Design publication on Medium – Writer & Contributor
Scclr.org – Vice President and Volunteer Marketer & Creative
xelhaescueladedanza.org – Volunteer Marketer & Creative
Dribble – Design Mentor and Coach
Awards
2019 WEBBY Honoree CX (Series & Campaigns) Creative Director – Mirum (WPP) “Unilever AXE Start His Journey”
2019 EFFIE Gold Award Single-Retailer Program Mass Merchants Creative Director – Mirum (WPP) “Unilever AXE Start His Journey”
2018 Inductee InVision APP Design Leadership Forum: A global community 500+ for design leaders with the mission to to advance the practice of design leadership by fostering a community where the world’s best can learn from one another.
2018 WPP JWT High Potential Award Recipient (only 50 selected RECIPIENTS from over 12,000 employees)
2017 Shopper Marketing EFFIE Silver Award – OMNI-CHANNEL SHOPPER EXPERIENCE Mirum: (Digital ACD) – “Unilever Hellmann’s “Strangewich Challenge”
2016 – Shopper Marketing EFFIE Gold Award – SHOPPER EXPERIENCE
LunchBox: (Digital Art director) – “CVS Love Your Skin Platform”
2015 – HBA Vendor of the Year LunchBox: ACD (Art) – “Dollar General” All Access Beauty Hub”
2011 – Top Designers of Chicago – The Creative Group Inc.