The chief executive and finance boss of Croydon Council have been named in a list of the UK's most influential public servants - despite the fact that the town hall is £37million in the red and services are being slashed.

Nathan Elvery, director of finance and resources, and David Wechsler, chief executive, were both selected by Carter Anderson, a media and business consulting organisation.

They were described as role models in a brochure which paid tribute to the "significant contribution the public sector makes to the nation".

The men were selected alongside figures including the heads of MI5 and MI6, the permanent secretary at the cabinet office, the commissioner or Metropolitan Police, the chief of defence staff, director general of the BBC and the chairman of the Commission for Race Equality.

Council leader Mike Fisher said: "It says a great deal about Croydon that not just one but two of its chief officers should feature in such formidable and distinguished company."

And local Labour group leader, Councillor Tony Newman, said: "David Wechsler has given many years of service and has made some major improvements to schools in the area. He is the longest serving chief executive in London and this is richly deserved.

"Likewise Nathan has done a tremendous job but if the Conservative politicians continue to make cuts like they have he is going to struggle to get into anyone's top 100 in the future."

Mr Wechsler, 60, has spent his entire public service career with Croydon Council where he began as a graduate management trainee in 1970.

In 1987 he was promoted to deputy chief executive and four years later became the authority's first director of economic and strategic development. He was appointed chief executive in March 1993.

Meanwhile Mr Elvery, 37, was appointed to Croydon Council in August 2004 and is the youngest director of finance in the country.

In one year, Mr Elvery and his team improved the council's financial position by £10m and for the year 2004/5, the budget was balanced for the first time in six years.