Roy always delivers assignments on time or early with more than what was expected every single time. His ability to collaborate is stellar – he’ll talk to anyone and take in information with patience and clarity, and then translate that into UX designs that are fundamentally user-focused. In short, Roy is a rockstar – he has the best attitude of anyone I’ve worked with in a long time – always willing to pitch in whether the task is big or simple admin. He is thorough and cares deeply about the end result of his work. He’s an asset worth investing in.

It’s been one of the highlights of my professional life to be a colleague of Roy Zornow’s. Yes, he reported to me, but that doesn’t capture the relationship at all. I learnt a tremendous amount from Roy, and admired his laconic yet thorough approach to his work. As the user experience lead on a high profile, high stakes project for IBM, he proved to be the linchpin, the go-to guy and arbiter of not only the user experience, but of crucial aspects of the functionality of a complex tool ecosystem.

His rock solid integrity and gumption made him a highly trusted and respected voice—when Roy speaks, people actually do listen. And he was relentless in his quest to make things better, taking the initiative—on his own—to rethink and completely rework the tool he was designing. This rethink eventually resulted in the new schema being adopted as the gold standard for this system by IBM. Suffice it to say, then, that with his fluent command of the UX discipline, his curiosity and willingness to get into the weeds, and most of all, his gentle and somehow nevertheless devastating personal charm, Roy is someone I’d work with again in a millisecond. And who I’d hire even faster than that…

Roy is one of the most versatile and talented UX professionals I’ve worked with in my career. This is why I’ve repeatedly asked him onto teams to help solve large, complex UX and IA problems for companies like Intel and IBM. Roy’s strong, holistic systems thinking and interaction design skills are truly outstanding. He has a unique ability to quickly comprehend and break down challenging integrations and workflows and deliver designs that make difficult user tasks simple, easy and delightful.

As a team member, Roy brings a very inclusive and collaborative style. Teams enjoy working with him, not just for his great ideas and impressive design ability, but because they truly trust and respect him personally and as a colleague. I hope to work with Roy again. I would do so in a heartbeat!