Zoom Hires New Legal Chief in Era of Artificial Intelligence

Zoom Video Communications Inc. has named Cheree McAlpine its chief legal officer, nearly four years after its former top lawyer Aparna Bawa was promoted to chief operating officer.

Bawa had been COO and Zoom’s interim legal chief since late 2020, when the video-conferencing technology company boosted her compensation and job duties as its popularity spiked amid the pandemic. Bawa oversaw a legal group at Zoom that rapidly increased headcount as the company grappled with cybersecurity and privacy concerns.

In October, Zoom agreed to pay $150 million to settle a shareholder class action lawsuit filed in 2020 over alleged security flaws in its encryption software.

McAlpine, most recently general counsel for software startup Intercom Inc., said she joined Zoom as of March 4 and will be its top in-house lawyer going forward, with Bawa focused solely on her role as COO.

“Zoom is revolutionizing collaboration and shaping how the world works,” McAlpine said in an email about her decision to join the San Jose, Calif.-based company. “It’s an exciting time to join and lead the legal and compliance team.”

McAlpine is a 25-year veteran of the technology industry, having been hired in 2021 by San Francisco-based Intercom to be its first general counsel. Intercom didn’t respond to a request for comment about McAlpine’s replacement.

Prior to Intercom she spent nearly four years as the top lawyer for Lumileds Holding BV, a lighting component company acquired in 2017 by Apollo Global Management Inc. Lumileds went bankrupt in 2022.

McAlpine previously spent four years as a general counsel at Avnet Inc., a distributor of electronic components and computer products, and another seven years as general counsel at Wyse Technology Inc., a cloud computing business where she managed its $1 billion sale to Dell Inc. in 2012.

Growing Portfolio

At Zoom, McAlpine’s role sees her take the lead on legal efforts for a company that has come under scrutiny from consumer advocates over data sharing practices as it expands into artificial intelligence. Zoom said last year it would not use audio, video, or other customer content to train new AI tools.

Zoom’s desire to grow its product portfolio comes as the company copes with the end of pandemic-related in-person restrictions that led to a boom in demand for its video conferencing services. Zoom said last year it would cut 15% of its workforce—about 1,300 jobs—to adapt to slower financial growth.

The company, which didn’t respond to a comment request about personnel changes, has watched several in-house lawyers leave its ranks in recent months. Mara Davis, a former associate general counsel for compliance and ethics at Zoom, left earlier this year to become chief compliance and ethics officer for academic publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc.

William Mullee, an associate general counsel for government and technical compliance at Zoom, in January took a similar role at management and consulting services giant Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.

Bawa, in her now former role as Zoom’s interim legal chief, remained one of the highest-paid legal professionals among US public companies last year. The bulk of Bawa’s $28 million pay package was comprised of stock awards. She has sold off nearly $8.3 million in Zoom shares within the past year, per securities filings.

Zoom initially hired Bawa to be its general counsel in 2018 from Magento Inc., an e-commerce services provider that she helped sell that year for $1.7 billion to Adobe Inc. Bawa was promoted from GC to chief legal officer at Zoom in 2019.

Jeffrey True, hired by Zoom as general counsel in 2020 from Palo Alto Networks Inc. upon Bawa’s elevation to COO, left the company late last year.