Summit Trail Advisors is launching a service designed to help other independent advisory firms with their growth by enhancing existing research and delivering additional investment capabilities to their clients, according to a news release.

With The STA Investment Alliance, RIAs and family offices will have the ability to hire Summit Trail as an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO), the release said. 

It added that Summit Trail views this offering as a partnership with like-minded advisors to offer the STA investment team as an extension of the firm’s existing capabilities.

The firm also is offering third-party firms access to model portfolios, alternative investments, market research and its list of preferred managers. Custom portfolios for third-party RIA clients also will be offered.

“We launched Summit Trail four years ago as an independent advisory firm with a robust investment platform," David Romhilt, CIO at Summit Trail, said in a prepared statement. “Since then, we have been approached by a growing number of large RIAs and family offices seeking access to our investment platform as a way to differentiate their investment offerings."

Summit Trail plans to charge a set fee for access to its basic menu of investment offerings and charge a la carte for customized services, which might include access to multimanager solutions or working with an individual client with a significant portfolio for a third party advisor, the release said.

Summit Trail has added Dominick Trapasso as a principal in the firm’s Chicago office to lead business development for The STA Investment Alliance. He joins the firm from asset management firm Lord Abbett, where he was a regional director for their RIA and family office business.  Prior to that, he was a managing director of RIA and family office business development at Nuveen.