echelon

echelon    [Esh-uh-lon]

noun.  a level or rank in an organization, a profession, or society

"McDonald’s returned to downtown Chicago from suburbs like Oak Brook. GE will move its headquarter to downtown Boston from Fairfield.  A top echelon of executives of Corporate America is returning to American cities."

"After years of service, she is now in the upper echelon of city officials."

"There is corruption in the upper echelons of the firm."

Origin:  Echelon comes from the French échelon, a word whose literal meaning is “rung of a ladder.”