IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 16, 2026--
BrightSky Residential (“BrightSky”), a leading developer of single-family build-to-rent (“BTR”) communities, has promoted Donny Fineberg to Director, Capital Markets, where he leads the firm’s joint venture equity platform and is responsible for sourcing, underwriting, and structuring investments with institutional and private capital partners.
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“Donny leads our joint venture equity business, partnering closely with our investments, acquisitions and operations teams,” states Leonard Miller, Chief Executive Officer of BrightSky. “His relationships and experience are key to supporting our company’s growth and capacity.”
Mr. Fineberg joined BrightSky in 2025 following seven years of experience across real estate financial services, with a focus on acquisitions, development, and investments in the BTR and multifamily sectors. At BrightSky, his role spans acquisition strategy, capital formation, and investment execution.
Prior to BrightSky, Mr. Fineberg worked at Core Spaces, where he supported the firm’s build-to-rent efforts across multiple markets, with responsibilities spanning underwriting, due diligence, and equity investments. Earlier in his career at Heitman, he evaluated investment opportunities across the living sector, including single-family rental, multifamily, and student housing, and supported the development of single-family rental joint venture initiatives.
“There’s growing interest in build-to-rent, but the way platforms operate can look very different,” said Mr. Fineberg. “A big part of my role is helping investors understand how BrightSky approaches markets, site selection, and development, while also expanding our relationships across a broader set of capital partners who want long-term exposure to the space.”
Mr. Fineberg holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder and is a member of the Urban Land Institute. He is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
ABOUT BRIGHTSKY RESIDENTIAL
BrightSky is a residential real estate development company operating exclusively in the build-to-rent (BTR) sector. As a leader in the space, BrightSky develops, owns, and manages purpose-built, highly amenitized suburban BTR communities in California, the Southeastern United States and select markets nationwide. Currently, the company owns and controls approximately 3,000 units in various stages of lease-up, construction, development and entitlement. A wholly-owned subsidiary of The Resmark Companies, BrightSky is headquartered in Irvine, California. For more information, please visit www.BrightSkyResidential.com.
Donny Fineberg, Capital Markets Director, BrightSky Residential
Cumberland, Md. (AP) — Three members of the Zizians, a cultlike group linked to six deaths across the U.S., were granted permission Friday to work together in preparation for their upcoming trial on trespassing, weapons and drug charges.
Jack LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank are among a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists drawn together by radical beliefs about veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence.
Authorities have described LaSota, a transgender woman known as Ziz, as the apparent leader of the “extremist group." Since 2022, Zizians have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left another member and a U.S. Border Patrol agent dead.
LaSota, Zajko and Blank were arrested in February after a property owner said he found them living in box trucks on his land in Frostburg, Maryland. Zajko was charged in Vermont with lying on her application to buy the gun used to kill agent David Maland in January 2025, while LaSota faces separate federal charges of being an armed fugitive.
On her way into the courthouse Friday, LaSota accused prosecutors of pressuring the trio to commit perjury by accepting plea deals and said, “They're violating our speedy trial rights.” Friday's hearing was supposed to include discussions of the trio's motions to dismiss the charges and logistics of the trial that begins Feb. 9. Much of the agenda was postponed until Jan. 30 after Zajko indicated a desire to fire her attorney.
Earlier, Allegany County Circuit Court Judge Michael Twigg agreed to allow the trio to work together on their defense. Since their arrest, LaSota and Blank have been allowed to meet, but Zajko was kept apart in what she described as “absurdly difficult circumstances.”
When the prosecutor told the judge he had reason to believe the three had already been communicating amongst themselves, LaSota interjected, “In the car ride here!”
“We should be able to talk to each other without being recorded and without fear of our notes being intercepted," LaSota said.
“We're adults. We have work to do, and we want to do our work," Zajko said.
At one point, all three spoke up in support of each other.
“I repudiate any notion of protecting me from our codefendants,” LaSota said.
“I do, too,” said Zajko.
“As do I,” Blank said.
In the Vermont case, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Zizians member Teresa Youngblut, who has pleaded not guilty to murder for her alleged involvement in the shootout. Though she initially faced lesser charges, President Donald Trump's administration had signaled early on that more serious charges were coming as part of its push for more federal executions.
At the time of the shooting, authorities had been watching Youngblut and her companion, Felix Bauckholt, for several days after a Vermont hotel employee reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing black tactical gear. She is accused of opening fire on border agents who pulled the car over on Interstate 91. An agent fired back, killing Bauckholt and wounding Youngblut.
Two other members of the Zizians group are awaiting trial in connection with the 2022 attack on a landlord in California that left another member dead. Zajko has been called a person of interest in the deaths of her parents later that year, and another member of the group is charged with killing the landlord three days before the Vermont shooting.
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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
In this image from video, Michelle Zajko, who is associated with a cultlike group known as Zizians that is linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Daniel Blank, who is associated with a cultlike group known as Zizians that is linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Jack LaSota, also known as Ziz, who is at the center of a cultlike group known as Zizians and linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Jack LaSota, also known as Ziz, who is at the center of a cultlike group known as Zizians and linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
