DHAKA: Honda Motor Co named the first foreigner and first female to its all-Japanese, all-male roster of board members and operating officers on Monday, helping it catch up with rival Japanese carmakers in diversifying its executive ranks.

Japan’s third-biggest carmaker named Issao Mizoguchi, a Brazilian of Japanese descent and senior vice-president at Honda South America, as one of its 23 operating officers.

Honda also appointed Hideko Kunii, a professor at Shibaura Institute of Technology, to its 13-member board of directors.

She will be one of two directors on the board who do not hold an executive post in the company, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1637 HRS, FEB 24, 2014