Yorkshire's Power 100: The 10 most powerful people in Yorkshire - from politicians to businesspeople
There has been an upshift in the talk of brighter times ahead for business and the economy, despite business acclimatising to a welter of increased legislation and tax.
But skills of creativity, innovation, commercialisation, partnership and, as ever, tenacity will be required to raise the prospects of Yorkshire and the Humber.
The talent for change is here though. In this year’s Power 100 of the most influential individuals, we feature those who Westminster seeks the opinions of, those seeking inward investment and others delivering game-changing regeneration schemes.
Insider’s Power 100 ranks those people based not just on the power vested in them by titles but also through an ability to drive change through quiet diplomacy, respect and influence.
Most are within our region but all have the ability to make lasting change here.
Here is Insider’s Power 100.
1 Rachel Reeves MP
MP for Leeds West and Pudsey; Chancellor of the Exchequer
Reeves and the Labour Party escaped relatively unscathed from a November Budget which at one time looked as if it could bring the government’s top tier down. Many actions won’t be implemented for another couple of years yet so the outcome is difficult to predict.
Avoiding criticism is hardly an ambition though and the Chancellor needs to start inspiring to break the shackles of low productivity and economic growth. She is the most powerful figure in Yorkshire and influencing the national stage.
Her decision to only “deliver one major fiscal event a year at the budget” might give business some confidence to plan long term. Whether lifting the threshold at which death duties apply to businesses and farms remains to be seen.
2 Gary Nutter
Chief Executive, Sheffield Forgemasters
Nutter took up the role in February 2024 from David Bond to oversee increasing defence output and a substantial recapitalisation programme.
Since the Ministry of Defence acquired the business it has become strategically pivotal to the UK in defence and energy and has embarked on a £400m investment programme to transform its production capabilities including an entirely new 250,000 sq ft machining facility at its Brightside Lane site.
Much of Yorkshire’s industrial future and reputation could be linked to the importance of Sheffield Forgemasters.
3 Oliver Coppard
Mayor of South Yorkshire
Transport has unquestionably been the main priority in the last year of Coppard, whose connections go to the top of government.
The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is releasing substantial funds to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport although passenger flights won’t be leaving until 2028.
On the trains, Coppard is demanding a new station for Rotherham and improvements for Sheffield station which he says is too small for the increase in the number of trains that he wants to run to Leeds and Manchester.
4 Andrew Dawes
Humber Director, Associated British Ports
ABP influences much of what business happens with the Humber, North and South banks. Beyond a big port operation, the Humber is also at the forefront of the energy transition and decarbonising the area’s heavy industries.
It has now begun construction on the first phase of its 227-acre Helm @ Immingham development - the most significant development of its kind in North Lincolnshire for decades.
Dawes has been announced as chair of the Future Humber place marketing body.
5 Steve Heapy
Chief Executive, Jet2 plc
Take a straw poll and you’d probably find that Jet2 is Yorkshire’s best known business except few would probably know where it is headquartered.
Heapy said in November 2024 that a launch at Luton airport would be its last new base ‘for some time’ yet less than a year later it opened at Gatwick too.
Heapy always offers colourful opinions. In November, he warned that flying abroad could become 'something for the rich' after repeated tax raids and said that Brits need a holiday to escape ‘their day-to-day lives’.
6 Tracy Brabin
The nation’s first female Metro-Mayor elected has already announced that she will be standing for a second re-election for Labour in 2028.
A new green growth plan will provide around 20,000 new jobs by 2030 it is claimed and the mayor has revealed 'exciting plans' to build life sciences links in Europe.
She has to slip a few ranking places though after lengthy delays were announced to a West Yorkshire Mass Transit system suggesting a lack of influence in Whitehall. Would that have happened in Manchester for example?
7 David Skaith
Mayor of York and North Yorkshire
Entering his third year as mayor, Skaith was a York shop owner previously and has worked to support North Yorkshire’s high streets through the Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund.
Less popular will be his push for a tourist tax levy on visitors which he wants to see introduced.
The York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority has joined a cluster with Teesside to create a bio-industrial cluster focused on green energy.
8 Allan Leighton
Executive Chair, Asda
More than a year after his return to the company, Leighton is yet to sprinkle his magic dust on the struggling supermarket empire. Researcher Nielsen IQ says the UK’s third-largest supermarket chain was the biggest loser at Christmas with sales falling 6.5 per cent in December.
9 Ed Miliband
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and MP for Doncaster North
Miliband has been touted not only to be the next Chancellor of the Exchequer but even as Prime Minister, so his calm methodology is obviously pleasing some.
He has dismissed rumours of a boiler levy aimed at reducing energy bills as ‘absolute nonsense’. Millions of homeowners could soon be eligible for grants to install solar panels, heat pumps and battery storage though.
10 James Lewis
Leader, Leeds City Council
Leeds is faring well economically, reflected in its growth which tracks ahead of most competitor cities. It has attracted a number of major inward investments, particularly from the public sector, and can be considered a national leader in sectors such as FinTech and Health.
That isn’t just down to its council of course but the local authority has unveiled a 10-year, £20billion economic vision to create 100,000 new jobs.
11 Simon Dew
Director of Development Management, Muse
Muse is back with a bang as the go-to place regeneration developer. Its role in delivering much-needed housing-led masterplans for flagging town and city centres has now extended regionally, to Bradford, Hull and Wakefield following on from delivering the Forge island leisure-led scheme in Rotherham.
12 Carl Ennis
Chief executive, Siemens plc
Siemens has a major influence in Yorkshire with its wind turbine blade facility in Hull providing nearly 1300 jobs and Goole seeing a £200m investment in a rail-manufacturing village.Interestingly, Siemens has been showcasing the Goole facility to several South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire politicians in recent months.
13 Dame Andrea Jenkyns
Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire
Jenkyns was a county Lincolnshire councillor before she became Conservative MP for Morley and Outwood in West Yorkshire in 2015 but lost the seat when the ward was abolished. Lincolnshire holds a lot of potential in agri-tech, food processing, defence and renewable energy. Her term won’t be dull though as witnessed by her singing performance in a sequined jumpsuit at the Reform UK party conference.
14 Simon Green
Chief Executive, Humber Freeport
The Freeport is one of eight in England and offers a range of incentives relating to customs, tax, planning, infrastructure, and innovation.
Its three tax sites are at Able Marine Energy Park and Immingham, Hull East and Saltend Chemical Park, and Goole, which has seen the most progress with a commitment by Finnish tissue maker Metsa and developer HBD planning for a major industrial park.
15 Tom Hunt
Leader, Sheffield City Council
Sheffield has been under no overall political control since 2011. Hunt said the local government finance settlement, covering the next three years, gave more certainty to “plan and invest in the services that our communities rely on.” He has also been strident in demanding more and quicker rail services to Leeds.
16 Rami Baitiéh
Chief Executive, Morrisons
The supermarket chain announced cost saving measures last year including the closure of some cafés, market kitchens, convenience stores, florists, meat counters, fish counters and four pharmacies.
And, as it faced losing its fifth UK placed ranking to Lidl, it did at least record third quarter sales up by three percent on 2024.
17 Ed Whiting
Chief Executive, Leeds City Council
Whiting is the key public sector leader in Yorkshire's largest city. Like some other local authorities, Leeds will now see extra funds to help balance its books. An extra £43m means the amount the council had to make in savings has been cut from £101.5m to £39.5m. Council tax will still rise by 4.99 percent though.
18 Mark Rhodes
Plant Director, Drax Power Station
The power company and Selby power station are critical for energy production in the UK. When the UK does not have enough electricity Drax will now step in to increase generation, avoiding the need to burn more gas or import power. It will also host a new 100MW data centre, which could be operational by 2027.
19 Kate Josephs
Chief Executive, Sheffield City Council
20 Mike Curtis
Regional Director, North East and Yorkshire, NHS England
Curtis succeeds interim Robert Cornall. NHS England in the North East and Yorkshire supports four integrated care systems – partnerships of NHS organisations, local authorities, charities, the voluntary and social enterprise sectors. Its employment and value to the economy and private businesses is enormous.
21 Prof Koen Lamberts
Vice-chancellor, University of Sheffield
The university makes a contribution of £4.82 billion to the South Yorkshire and UK economy and supports 22,990 full time jobs. The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026 has named the university as the best in the UK for student experience and it rose a place to be ranked the 13th best university in the UK overall.
22 Vincent Hodder
Chief Executive, Leeds Bradford Airport
Spanish airport operator Aena announced before Christmas that it had acquired a majority stake in LBA. The first stage of the £100m LBA:Regen refurbishment project is now complete and redevelopment works are now progressing on the original terminal building.
The airport recorded three million passengers at the earliest stage in its history last summer.
23 Luke Campbell
Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire
A surprising selection to stand for mayor against some seasoned political contenders. He is regularly quizzed over Reform’s opposition to net zero climate targets. He says he is ‘all for’ cleaner air but cited net zero in his refusal to join the three other Yorkshire metro mayors in signing a pledge to support economic growth.
24 Sebastian Walsh
Head of Leeds, Bank of England
Walsh will help deliver the Bank’s ambitious plans to increase staff numbers in Leeds from 70 to 500 by 2027. Although reports that very few exiting BoE staff want to transfer north will be concerning, the bank’s presence will do much for the reputation of Leeds.
25 Allan Bell
President and Chief Executive, British Steel
The seemingly unending question of what happens with 2700 jobs at state controlled British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant is still unresolved. Media reports now say ministers are considering plans to end steel production at Scunthorpe and merge British Steel with Speciality Steel UK (SSUK).
26 Ash Amirahmadi
Chief Executive, Sofina Foods Europe
Between Young’s Seafood and Karro Food group, Canada’s Sofina is a major employer and food producer in the region. Young’s is Grimsby’s largest private sector employer with more than 1400 staff while Karro employs around 1000 at its head office base in Malton.
27 Oliver Holbourn
Chief Executive, National Wealth Fund
The HM Treasury-owned funder has ambitions to significantly grow its Leeds headquarters numbers. Regionally, it has loaned £27m towards a district heating system for Hull and Britain's biggest battery storage funding of £200m for a project at Thorpe Marsh, near Doncaster.
28 Bas Padberg
UK Managing Director, Arla Foods
The giant international dairy group employs around 500 people at its UK headquarters at Leeds Valley Park and 450 at its National Distribution Centre at Stourton. It has however announced plans to close its Settle creamery in North Yorkshire which employs around 128 people.
29 Mike Ross
Leader, Hull City Council
Ross may have lost out on being the metro mayor for Hull and East Yorkshire last year but he and his Liberal Democrats are showing themselves to be a steady hand on the tiller. The city was named by National Geographic last year as one of the 25 best places in the world to visit last year.
30 Susan Allen
Chief Executive, Yorkshire Building Society
YBS employs 3000 people in the UK and serves around three million customers from Bradford headquarters. Allen has a 25-year career in the financial services. YBS reported a rise in pre-tax profits to £187.9m from from £158.1m for the six months to 30 June 2025
31 Ellie Burrows
Managing Director, Eastern Region, Network Rail
Plans for the York Central site shifted up a gear with the submission of the major building planning package including 999 homes, an innovation hub, major retail and leisure floorspace, a 213-bed hotel, large areas of public realm. McLaren is a joint venture development partner.
Burrows leads the Eastern region operating some of the busiest rail lines in the country from Newcastle to London including three airports and 13 freight ports. When the Transpennine route upgrade is complete there will be up to six, 42-minute services every hour between Leeds and Manchester.
32 Sally Dillon
York Site Lead, Aviva
Insurance and pensions provider Aviva has 17 million customers across the UK, Ireland and Canada, £400 billion of group assets under management and 22,000 people – 2000 are based in York. Half-year profits increased from £875 million to £1,068million, ex the acquisition of Direct Line.
33 Prof Charlie Jeffery
Vice-chancellor, University of York
Jeffery has had to find £15 million of financial savings in the last year, some through staff loss. The university will be central to the government's desire for North Yorkshire to be the leader in industrial biotechnology. It has also set up a campus in Mumbai, India, and Jeffery joined the Prime Minister on a trade mission to India recently.
34 Steve Foots
Chief Executive, Croda
The Snaith-headquartered oils and chemicals giant has been in a difficult market reflected in its share price fall of 59 percent in the last five years. Jefferies credit rating agency cut its rating on the chemicals group from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’ in November amid concerns that the company’s margin recovery is taking longer than expected.
35 Dean Finch
Group Chief Executive, Persimmon Homes
These are relatively quiet times for housebuilders but York-headquartered Persimmon is a market leader and expects new home completions to rise to 11,293 homes in 2025 from 10,664 homes in 2024. A pre-tax profit of £429m is expected.
36 Prof Shearer West
Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds
Leeds is one of Britain’s biggest universities with 37,000 students from 170 countries. It is estimated to make a £1.9bn contribution to the West Yorkshire economy. In October, it achieved its highest ranking since 2008 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
37 Duncan Johnson
Chief Executive, Northern Gritstone
In the last year, the investment firm has bought into encryption technology business Sitehop and joined a £9 million Series A round for Phlux Technology, both from Sheffield, and supported University of Leeds spinout IVFmicro. It also announced its own fundraise of £50 million bringing its total permanent capital to £362 million.
38 Malcolm Healey
Founder, West Retail Group
Yorkshire’s wealthiest business owner, now 81, has had a relatively testing time of it lately. Wren Kitchens reported profits having halved and made nearly 1,000 jobs cuts. A return to normality after exceptional Covid era trading and heavy investment were blamed.
39 Mandy Ridyard
Financial Director, Produmax, and Business Advisor to Mayor of West Yorkshire
Having grown the reputation and scale of Bradford aerospace engineering business Produmax, Ridyard additionally chairs the West Yorkshire Business Board and was appointed as Business Advisor to the Mayor in 2023. She also sits on the National Manufacturing Commission assessing how the Industrial Strategy can support SMEs.
40 Paul Caddick
Chairman, Caddick Group
There’s no sign of Caddick stepping aside at his increasingly powerful construction and development business which posted a 23 per cent rise in gross profit to £70m.
The business has approval to build the £1billion South Village in Leeds, which will deliver 2,000 homes, 450 hotel beds and 700,000 sq ft of commercial space.
41 Tom Gilman
Managing Director, McLaren Property
42 Rachel Elwell
Chief Executive, Border To Coast Pensions Partnership
Border to Coast employs nearly 200 people in Leeds investing globally on behalf of 11 Local Government Pension Schemes. It is set to nearly double its assets under management to £110bn and become one of the largest asset owners in the UK.
43 Louis Taylor
Chief Executive, British Business Bank
The financial capacity of the Sheffield-headquartered bank was boosted by two-thirds to £25.6 billion at the last Spending Review. The government is challenging the bank to deliver a step change in the finance it makes available to smaller businesses.
44 Tom Bousfield
Executive Director of Growth, Business and Skills, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
Bousfield is focused on delivering growth through skills, business support and the business ecosystem. He joined the SYMCA three years ago following a decade in Whitehall working in Treasury, the Cabinet Office, Number 10 and the National Infrastructure Commission.
45 Anegla Barnicle
Director of City Development, Leeds City Council
Barnicle is tireless in promoting the best of Yorkshire’s strongest city economy. Its standing and ambition seems to have ratcheted up to another level since her appointment with serious regeneration projects and a collective will.
46 James Farrar
Chief Executive, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
Farrar took on the role following leadership at the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). where he built the team and oversaw an investment portfolio of over £200 million.
47 Prof Liz Towns-Andrews
Head of Business Engagement, University of Huddersfield National Health Innovation Campus
Towns-Andrews has been essential in delivering the £250m innovation campus project. Its Daphne Steele Building features learning spaces and clinical labs. The second, the Emily Siddon, will host a community diagnostic centre and the Health Business Innovation Centre for start-ups.
48 Paraag Marathe
Chairman, Leeds United FC
The football club has recently had the green light to press on with a major redevelopment programme of its Elland Road ground. But the project is much more than a boost to its own crowd capacity - it will be one end of a regenerative new corridor from the city centre.
49 Nicola Shaw
Chief Executive, Yorkshire Water
Yorkshire Water has rarely been away from controversy in recent years from polluted water courses to undisclosed payments to Shaw but there can be no denying its impact from land ownership, infrastructure provision or up to 8000 jobs dependent on it.
Chief Executive, The Piece Hall Trust
2025 saw The Piece Hall welcome 34 global headliners for its summer concerts and fans travelled from 53 countries.
An economic impact report shows The Piece Hall has contributed £680million to the economy over the last decade.
AND NUMBERS 51 TO 100
51 Mark Burton - Group Ambassador for Yorkshire and The Humber, Lloyds Banking Group
52 Scott Cole - Managing Director, Nestle Confectionery UK & Ireland
53 Keith Jackson - Master Cutler, Company of Cutlers of Hallamshire,
54 Lynda Shillaw - Chief Executive, Harworth Group
55 Kirsten Major - Chief Executive, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
56 Sinead Rocks - Managing Director - Nations & Regions, Channel 4
57 Ian Hoad - Chief Executive, Keepmoat
58 Ben Still - Chief Executive, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA)
59 Paul Fursey - Lead Executive, Phillips 66 Humber Refinery
60 Simon Schofield - Head of Development North, Vastint
61 Dan Ibbetson - Chief Executive, Portakabin
62 Finlay McCutcheon - Managing Director, SSE Thermal
63 Prof Peter Slee - Vice-chancellor, Leeds Beckett University
64 Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe - Leader, Bradford Council
65 Colin Booth - Group Chief Executive, Luminate Education Group
66 Andy Brown - Managing Director, Taylors of Harrogate
67 Richard Stubbs - Chief Executive, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber
68 Garry Wilson - Co-founder, Endless
69 Mark Cunliffe-Lister - Owner, Swinton Estate
70 Anil Gupta - Practice Senior Partner - Yorkshire and the North East, Deloitte
71 Angela Foulkes - Chief Executive and Principal, The Sheffield College
72 Gareth Scargill - Managing Director, Nexus Leeds
73 Jamie Savile - Director, Mexborough Estates
74 Yvette Cooper - Foreign Secretary and MP for for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley
75 Dominic Gibbons - Managing Director, Wykeland Group
76 Barry Jackson - Regional Partner, BGF
77 Will Oxley - Senior Market Partner for Leeds, PwC
78 Mark Taylor - Founder, Automated Analytics
79 David Aspin - Owner, Munroe K
80 Paul Sewell - Chair, Sewell Group and Chair, Hull Kingston Rovers
81 Kevin Nagle - Owner, Huddersfield Town FC
82 Dan Spencer - Founder, Torsion Group
83 Prof Tom Lawson - Vice-chancellor, University of Hull
84 Louisa Harrison-Walker - Chief Executive, Sheffield Chamber; co-chair, South Yorkshire Business Advisory Board
85 Chris Webb - Principal, Bradford College
86 Sir Richard Harpin - Founder, Growth Partner
87 Liz Mossop - Vice-chancellor, Sheffield Hallam University
88 Nick Howard - Owner, Castle Howard Estate
89 Katharine Hammond - Chief Executive, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
90 Daniel Fell - Chief Executive, Doncaster Chamber
91 Phil Murden - Office Senior Partner, KPMG Leeds
92 Alex McWhirter - Chief Executive, Finance Yorkshire
93 Jason Speedy - Chair, Hull and East Yorkshire Business Board and Chief Operating Officer, Groupe Atlantic
94 James Mason - Chief Executive, West & North Yorkshire Chamber
95 Kate Jarman - Office Managing Partner - Yorkshire, EY
96 Gary Parlett - Chair, Answer Digital; Member, UK Government Small Business Growth Forum
97 Carrie Sudbury - Chief Executive, Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce
98 William Derby - Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course, York Racecourse
99 Sharon Jandu - Founder, Yorkshire Asian Business Association
100 Kevin Sinfield - hero to millions