Power and Pay: The region's movers and shakers

Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds

Prof Michael Arthur has been University of Leeds vice-chancellor since 2004 and is also chairman of the prestigious Russell Group of universities. He is board member on organisations such as Yorkshire Forward and Opera North and is well-known for his contribution to education and medical research. Leeds is currently 85th in a world league table of university rankings, although Prof Arthur aims to get it into the world's top 50 universities by 2015.

Salary: 253,000 Benefits in kind: 7,000 Employer contributions to defined benefit scheme: 59,000

Ed Balls

Morley and Outwood MP and Shadow Home Secretary, Labour Party, Albion Chambers, Morley

Ed Balls was elected MP for Morley and Outwood in West Yorkshire last May. He was previously MP for Normanton, Children's Secretary and Economic Secretary to the Treasury, but is now Shadow Home Secretary. He was given the position by new Labour leader Ed Miliband. Mr Balls used to work for Harvard University and the Financial Times. He is married to Shadow Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and they live in Castleford.

Salary: 65,738

Brian Cantor

Vice-Chancellor, University of York, Heslington, York

Prof Brian Cantor has been University of York vice-chancellor since 2002. The University of Cambridge graduate has worked at Sussex and Oxford universities, and with companies such as General Electric and Rolls-Royce. He is on the boards of Yorkshire Innovation, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the National Science Learning Centre. He enjoys mountaineering, collecting modern art and playing the guitar.

Salary: 203,633 Benefits in kind: 3,959 Pension contributions: 47,858

Andrew Cash

Chief Executive, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Beech Hill Road, Sheffield

Sir Andrew Cash, who has been an NHS chief executive for more than 20 years, was knighted for services to healthcare in the 2009 Birthday Honours list. He works part-time for the Department of Health, leading on military health matters, and is a visiting professor at the University of York and the University of Sheffield. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals is the largest foundation trust in England, and Sir Andrew has been chief executive since its inception in 2004.

Salary: 215,000-220,000

Steven Croft

Bishop of Sheffield, Diocese of Sheffield, Church House, Rotherham

Dr Steven Croft, born in Halifax, was consecrated as the new Bishop of Sheffield in 2009. He started his working life in London, but moved back to Yorkshire soon after to take up a post in the Diocese of Wakefield. Dr Croft worked as warden of his old theological college in Durham and later alongside Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as Archbishops' Missioner, where he looked at new ways of being a church in the 21st century, before taking over in Sheffield.

Salary: 38,000

Iain Cornish

Chief Executive, Yorkshire Building Society, Yorkshire House, Bradford

Iain Cornish joined the Yorkshire Building Society 19 years ago and held various senior management positions before becoming chief executive in 2003. He is an economist and started his career in government before working in the private sector. Mr Cornish is a member of the nominations and risk committees and chairman of the Financial Services Practitioner Panel, which represents the financial industry in the UK regulatory system.

Salary: 327,000 Taxable benefits: 15,000

Nick Clegg

Deputy Prime Minister, Liberal Democrats, Nethergreen Road, Sheffield

Nick Clegg, the Sheffield Hallam MP who became Deputy Prime Minister last May, is Yorkshire's most powerful politician. Mr Clegg grew up in Oxfordshire and studied at the University of Cambridge before working as a consultant, author and for the European Commission. He was elected as an East Midlands MEP in 1999 before standing down in 2004 and became MP for Sheffield Hallam in 2005. He was elected Liberal Democrat leader in 2007.

Salary: 134,565

Steve Davies

Director, National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York

Steve Davies joined the National Railway Museum last year after leaving the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester, where he transformed its fortunes and led a 7m building re-development project. He has also held a position within the Army as Chief of Staff Headquarters 2nd Division – meaning he oversaw the activities of 250 central staff and 10,000 troops. Mr Davies also established the Sierra Leone National Railway Museum in 2005.

Salary: 105,000

Richard Flint

Chief Executive, Yorkshire Water, Western House, Bradford

Richard Flint took over as chief executive of Yorkshire Water last year from Kevin Whiteman, who had held the position for 10 years. This transition marked the start of the company's new five-year 1.9bn investment programme to combat flooding and improve bathing water quality. Some of the spending is on maintaining East Coast beaches, upgrading the Victorian pipe network in Leeds and Sheffield's waste water treatment works.

Salary: 200,000 Bonus: 150,000 Long-term incentive plan: 76,500

Richard Flinton

Chief Executive, North Yorkshire County Council, County Hall, Northallerton

Richard Flinton lives in Ryedale and had already spent 23 years working for the county council before being appointed chief executive last May. The De Montfort University graduate has spent time as a trading standards officer and business and environmental services director at the authority. He replaced John Marsden, who became North Tyneside Council chief executive, and started on a salary of almost 25,000 less than his predecessor.

Salary: 155,000

Harriet Green

Chief Executive, Premier Farnell, Armley Road, Leeds

Harriet Green has been chief executive officer of industrial distribution firm Premier Farnell since April 2006. She is also on the board of Emerson Electric Company and a founder member of charity Peaceworks. Ms Green ran volume distribution businesses in four continents for Arrow Electronics, after leaving the Macro Group in 1994. Premier Farnell, which supplies products to the likes of Nokia and Microsoft, recorded a pre-tax profit of 53.5m in 2010.

Salary: 490,000 Bonus: 342,000 Benefits in kind: 26,000

Neil Gaydon

Chief Executive, Pace, Victoria Road, Saltaire

Neil Gaydon has been chief executive officer of pay television technology developer Pace for almost five years, although he has been with the company since 1995. He spent four years building up the company's American business between 1999 and 2003. Pace has delivered more than 100 million set-top box products in two decades and its pre-tax profit in 2009 was up 405 per cent on the previous year, at 69.9m, with revenues of 1.1bn.

Salary: 418,000 Performance bonus: 400,000 Pension contributions: 114,000

Norman Bettison

Chief Constable, West Yorkshire Police, Laburnum Road, Wakefield

Sir Norman Bettison has had a policing career covering almost four decades and been in charge of two major police forces. The Sheffield Hallam University graduate rejoined West Yorkshire Police in 2007 after working there as Assistant Chief Constable in the 1990s, before moving to become Chief Constable of Merseyside Police. He received a knighthood for services to policing in 2006 and called for a pay freeze across the public sector in a Yorkshire Post article last April.

Salary: 217,956

Neil Franklin

Chief Crown Prosecutor, West Yorkshire Crown Prosecution Service, Jefferson House, Leeds

Neil Franklin, who has been a qualified solicitor for around 35 years, was appointed as West Yorkshire Chief Crown Prosecutor in 1999. He worked in Wakefield and Leeds private practices until 1979 when he joined West Yorkshire Prosecuting Solicitors' Department. He then worked for CPS Humberside and later as Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Severn/Thames in 1996. He was awarded an OBE for services to the CPS in the 2006 Birthday Honours List.

Salary: 105,000to110,000

William Hague

MP for Richmond & Foreign Secretary, Conservative Party, Omega Business Village, Northallerton

William Hague, born in Rotherham, attended the University of Oxford before working for Shell UK. He has been MP for Richmond for more than two decades and held positions as Minister of State for Social Security and Disabled People, Secretary of State for Wales and Shadow Foreign Secretary. He was also Tory party leader from 1997 to 2001 and appointed Foreign Secretary last year in the coalition Cabinet. His interests include reading, walking, judo and skiing.

Salary: 134,565

Shaun Harvey

Director and Chief Executive, Leeds United Football Club, Elland Road, Leeds

Shaun Harvey saw Leeds United, under the leadership of manager Simon Grayson, promoted back to the Football League Championship last summer. He was previously managing director of Bradford City, and was with the Bantams when they entered administration in 2002. Leeds, who exited administration in 2007, announced an operating loss of 1.6m in the last financial year, which Mr Harvey partly blamed on greater investment in the playing squad.

Salary: 150,000

Bob Kerslake

Permanent Secretary, Department of Communities and Local Government, Eland House, London

Sir Bob Kerslake, who was chief executive for Sheffield City Council for more than a decade between 1997 and 2008, started his new job at the Department for Communities and Local Government last November. Sir Bob is moving from his position as chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency. He has held a number of positions in the public sector in London and is a member of a strategy group for the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Salary: 170,000

Ian Bevan

Managing Director, Northern Rail, Northern House, York

Ian Bevan became managing director of Northern Rail last June, after holding the positions of finance director and deputy managing director. He was previously chief financial officer at GNER, but trained in the chemical industry and worked in healthcare and IT before becoming finance director of Lancaster City Transport in 1986. His interests include running, cycling and classic cars – and he wants to cycle all the former rail paths now converted to cycle routes.

Salary: 150,000

Trevor Birch

Chief Executive, Sheffield United Football Club, Bramall Lane