Invista’s Bill King has volunteered to continue his term as president and chairman of the board at Wilmington Industrial Development for an additional 18 months. The move was made to help vice chairman Jack Barto resolve a scheduling conflict that would have had the New Hanover Regional Medical Center CEO leading the boards of the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and WID simultaneously.

Barto said the time commitment to both groups would have left him stretched too thin to do an effective job at both. “Bill King volunteered. And he’s a great guy. And now I’m able to do both,” he said.

WID’s executive director Scott Satterfield said King’s flexibility gives the economic development group continuity until Barto is finished with the work he will do at the chamber.

“This is a very busy person – the CEO of the largest employer in the area – who we are all very fortunate is a willing participant in worthwhile endeavors like WID and the chamber of commerce and the many other things he participates in,” Satterfield said.

“It would not be fair to him, it would not be fair to the chamber of commerce and it would not be fair to WID for him to be that spread out. So therefore we think it is essential that he be able to give his full time commitment as chairman to the organizations one at a time,” Satterfield said.

Barto still works with WID as the vice chairman until his commitment as the chamber’s chairman ends at the end of 2011. The chamber’s board chair position is a one-year commitment. WID’s chair post is a two-year commitment. Barto would have begun that commitment this summer and run through the end of June 2012. Now he will begin as chairman of the WID board in early 2012. There is no word yet on how long his term would last.

“You want the best and the brightest,” Satterfield said, emphasizing that Barto’s presence emphasizes the importance of the health care industry to WID’s mission. “Clearly Jack is somebody we think is gonna be an incredible leader for this organization. He is gonna be an incredible leader for the chamber of commerce as he is a world class CEO for the hospital.”