Aparna Bawa. Courtesy photo

Aparna Bawa has zoomed into a new general counsel role at a company that provides cloud-based video conferencing solutions.

The Silicon Valley veteran is now Zoom Video Communications' first GC, the San Jose, California-based company announced Wednesday.

According to Bawa, the company is growing fast, and leaders thought it was time to bring on a GC for its in-house lawyers who are currently working largely alongside individual business functions, rather than in their own cohesive group.

“We have a few lawyers, but I am the first legal leader per se,” Bawa told Corporate Counsel in an interview.  “They've been functioning more as [part of] the functions they support. It will be nice to get them together as a legal team. And the entire company is growing, I don't think the legal department is any exception to that.”

Bawa started her new role last week. As GC at Zoom, she'll be working on everything from managing the company's lawyers, to working on intellectual property and litigation and supporting the sales function. She'll be reporting to chief financial officer Kelly Steckelberg.

This isn't her first time working in-house at a fast-growing tech company. Bawa was the senior vice president and GC of Magento Commerce, a California-based commerce platform.

Before that, she spent more than four years at flash storage company Nimble Storage. According to Bawa's LinkedIn profile, Nimble quadrupled in size during her time there.

She won an Impact GC Award from Corporate Counsel affiliate The Recorder for her work at Nimble in 2014. She helped Nimble navigate its IPO in 2013.

“Fundamentally I think my experiences have taught me there is a solution to every problem. It just may not be the solution that pops into my mind right away. Approach every problem with an optimistic attitude,” she told Corporate Counsel this week. ”Come at things with: This is a problem, but I can solve it or find the people to help me solve it. And if I don't do it, I can find other people to help. It takes a village to solve that problem.”

Bawa has also worked at semiconductor solutions company Inphi Corp., as well as Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank. Bawa started her legal career in 2004 as a corporate and securities associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati after graduating Harvard Law.