Vanguard has called for more diversity on the boards of public companies, saying it plans to inquire about the gender, age, and race of their directors, writes Jeff Blumenthal for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The Malvern-based investment giant provided this new guidance in its annual stewardship report. The company said it has long believed in the importance of boardroom diversity and has been increasingly advocating for more representation of women on corporate boards. The company also emphasized that gender diversity is not enough and that the “effective boards of today and tomorrow should reflect all facets of diversity.”

“We are expanding our focus to more explicitly urge boards to seek greater diversity across a wide range of personal characteristics, such as gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, and age,” the report said.

Among other things, Vanguard is asking boards of directors to announce their views on board diversity, disclose their board diversity measures, and widen their search for candidates.

“Vanguard expects companies to make significant progress on boardroom diversity across multiple dimensions and to prioritize adding diverse voices to their boards in the next few years,” the company said.

Read more about Vanguard’s call for more diversity in the Philadelphia Business Journal here.

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