The aim of this study is to answer the question: "do board characteristics affect firm performance?" There are six board of directors' characteristics being studied, including managerial ownership, board size, board independence, CEO duality, gender diversity and ethnic diversity. Return on Equity (ROE) is used as a measurement for firm financial performance. There are 300 Malaysian public listed companies being randomly selected from each sector. The results show that board size and ethnic diversity have positive relationship with ROE while board independence has negative relationship. There is no significant relationship between managerial ownership, CEO duality and gender diversity on firm performance. The findings may provide some implications for future research regarding the effectiveness of board of directors towards firm performance.