President Halimah's address on board-diversity journey bang on

SINGAPORE'S drive to increase the participation of women on the boards of listed companies has been extended to cover organisations in the people and public sector. This is a welcome step forward in the ongoing journey of promoting greater diversity at the upper ranks of the workplace.

But even more encouraging to this writer - who believes that a more effective board, and not just a gender-diverse one, should be the end goal - was the stance adopted by President Halimah Yacob at the launch of the Council for Board Diversity (CBD) on Wednesday.

The CBD takes over the Diversity Action Committee (DAC), whose mission was to increase the representation of women on the boards of listed companies. The CBD expands that ambit to include organisations in the social and public sectors.