US video conferencing platform Zoom Video Communications has hired Cheree McAlpine as its chief legal officer, allowing former legal chief Aparna Bawa to concentrate solely on her chief operating officer role.

McAlpine most recently worked at business messaging platform Intercom, where she was general counsel. At Zoom, she will be responsible for overseeing all legal matters. San Jose, California-based Zoom provides virtual meeting software and other workplace collaboration tools.

In a post on LinkedIn, Zoom said: “With over 25 years of legal experience in global tech, Cheree brings a wealth of expertise. We’re excited to have her on board as we shape the future of AI-powered collaboration.”

Prior to joining Intercom, McAlpine previously spent close to four years as CLO at lighting company Lumileds and also had spells as GC for the Americas at electronic components-maker Avnet and GC at Wyse, which she left after it was acquired by Dell in 2012. She started her legal career at Sun Microsystems.

In a separate LinkedIn post, McAlpine said: “I am thrilled to share that I have recently joined Zoom as its chief legal officer. Zoom is revolutionising collaboration and shaping the future of work around the globe. I am thrilled to be a part of this innovative team and to lead its group of talented legal and compliance professionals.”

Her appointment follows a recent reshuffle across the firm’s legal department, which saw the departure of GC Jeff True last year and the promotion of two lawyers – Josh Parecki and Lynn Haaland – to chief compliance and ethics officer and chief privacy officer respectively, Bloomberg reported in November.

Bawa, meantime, had been serving as interim CLO since being promoted to chief operating officer in May 2020, less than two years after after joining the firm as CLO. Her appointment as COO came as demand for Zoom’s services sky-rocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced companies to shutter their offices and let employees work from home. Zoom’s annual revenue jumped from $330m in 2019 before the pandemic hit to $2.65bn in 2021. Revenue was more than $4bn last year.