The phrase "leading official" is both correct and usable in written English.
It refers to someone who holds a high position of authority or acts as a prominent figure within a particular organization or government body. Example: The leading official of the company announced a new initiative to improve employee satisfaction.
Before then, Dr. Patriarca had been a leading official at the F.D.A. involved in reviewing FluMist.
But Giuseppe Farina, a leading official in part of the same union, said he wanted more detail.
A leading official for the Palestinian Authority, Saeb Erekat, called Gingrich's comments "the lowest point of thinking anyone can reach… He is denying our existence".
The government offered promises that typically proved illusory; just a year before the revolution, a leading official promised that Imbaba would soon look like Cairo's most upscale neighborhoods.
"President Yasir Arafat ordered the release of all Bir Zeit University students," said Walid Wahdan, a leading official of Mr. Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction.
A leading official with Ansar Dine in Timbuktu has boasted of its closeness to the group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which is responsible for numerous kidnappings and killings of Westerners in the region.
China has consistently sought to suppress reports of the wealth of leading officials and families.
Among the leading officials implicated was the APA's ethics chief, Stephen Behnke.
Crowding in state prisons is at its worst in 40 years, leading officials to begin double-bunking inmates in cells.
They are the first departures of leading officials since Jamie Dimon, the chief executive, disclosed the bank's stunning $2 billion loss on Thursday.
The militants also tried to blow up a pipeline, he said, leading officials to worry about the stocks of gas at the plant.
