Bill Haywood, chief executive officer of Hawaii Independent Energy, is stepping down immediately from the company that was formed to operate the former Tesoro refinery in Kapolei.  

Kapolei Refinery Vice President Tom Weber will remain manager of the facility and assume the responsibilities of Haywood.

Haywood was appointed CEO of the Houston-based Par Petroleum Corp. subsidiary about a year ago. Haywood said Friday in a phone interview that the company has met his goal and is ready for a transition in leadership.

“I got involved and thought it was worthy of getting some investors together and start it back up and that’s what we did,” Haywood said.

Lance Tanaka, a spokesman for Hawaii Independent Energy, said Haywood’s departure was unrelated to Hawaiian Electric Co. ending its fuel supply contract with the company that will expire at the end of this year.