Rashmi Garde was the first attorney at VMware, Marin Software and Bloomreach before becoming the first in-house lawyer at software company Centrify, where she currently serves as general counsel. Garde this past year guided her company through an equity financing resulting in the sale of a majority interest to private equity firm Thoma Bravo, and the subsequent spinoff of a stand-alone Identity-as-a-Service company called Idaptive. Garde, who is among the 21 lawyers chosen by The Recorder as Women Leaders in Tech Law as part of this year’s California Leaders in Tech Law and Innovation Awards, suggests that companies should consider more than just who has the best interview skills when seeking out diverse candidates for open positions.

The Recorder: What’s your proudest professional achievement of the past year and why?