The Short Version

• Brixmor Property Group CEO and president Brian Finnegan has committed $50,000 personally, with the company contributing another $50,000, to establish the Matthew Vender Memorial Scholarship through the ICSC Foundation and Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
• The scholarship will provide $10,000 annually through 2035 to a Temple junior or senior pursuing a major or minor in real estate.
• Recipients also will receive an ICSC Student Membership, mentorship opportunities and an all-expenses-paid trip to ICSC LAS VEGAS.
• The scholarship honors Matthew Vender, a Temple graduate and retail real estate leasing professional who passed away in December at age 28.
• The inaugural recipient is Temple senior Shane Farmer, a real estate major at the Fox School of Business.

A New Scholarship Will Carry Matthew Vender’s Legacy Into the Next Generation of Real Estate Professionals

At a memorial service for Matthew Vender in January, Brian Finnegan kept noticing the Temple University photographs.

Finnegan, CEO and president of Brixmor Property Group and chair of the ICSC Foundation, had known Vender first as the son of longtime Brixmor executive David Vender and later as a young leasing professional building a reputation of his own.

Matthew Vender passed away in December at 28. At the service, as his father and his brother, Ben, talked about how much Matthew had loved Philadelphia’s Temple University — where he studied journalism, joined Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and remained tied to Philadelphia even as work took him around the country — Finnegan started thinking about a way to honor him.

A scholarship that could help another Temple student find a path into real estate came to mind. “We felt that it was a great way to keep his memory going, to give back to a place that meant a lot to him,” Finnegan said.

When Finnegan approached David Vender with the idea, the connection felt especially fitting. The elder Vender also had attended Temple and belonged to Pi Lambda Phi, and the father valued the important part the university had continued to play in his son’s life. “I was really appreciative of that,” David said. “He couldn’t have captured a nicer thing to do than a scholarship to Temple University, which Matt loved so much.”

Finnegan has committed $50,000 personally, and Brixmor has added another $50,000 to establish the Matthew Vender Memorial Scholarship through the ICSC Foundation and Temple’s Fox School of Business. The $100,000 will fund a $10,000 scholarship each year through 2035 for a junior or senior pursuing a major or minor in real estate. The inaugural recipient is Shane Farmer, a Temple University senior. 

Matthew Vender Found His Own Path In Retail Real Estate

As is often the case, Matthew Vender’s mother was right. Brokerage turned out to be a natural fit for her son, who wasted little time proving it. After graduating from Temple, he joined Colliers as a sales and leasing associate in Philadelphia in 2019. In 2022, he moved to ShopCore Properties as a leasing associate and was promoted to leasing director the following year. He continued in that role as ShopCore became Perform Properties, focusing on retail and shopping center leasing for properties around the country. “He blazed his path as a really, really talented young real estate professional focusing on shopping center leasing,” David Vender said. “He really checked a lot of the boxes as a professional, such as embracing lease language, making sure he employed good strategy.”

But it was the relationship side of the business that particularly suited him. Remembered by his dad as a toddler sitting in a grocery cart saying hello to everyone who passed and introducing himself to other tables at restaurants — sometimes even offering to share his fries — Matthew Vender was an extrovert and a relationship person. That carried into his work. “He loved our industry, but he loved the people,” David said. “That was clear. It was the people, not the real estate. The people, people, people.”

That ability to connect also made Matthew an effective negotiator. David Vender said his son could deliver the difficult messages that inevitably come with leasing — from renewal terms to negotiations that didn’t go someone’s way — without damaging the relationship. “He was really good at keeping people understanding that you have to deliver tough messages sometimes in life, in business, and it shouldn’t be the end,” the father said.

His son had a way, he said, of making the person on the other side feel respected, even after a tough negotiation. “You got a good deal here. This was a good outcome. It was a great negotiation. I want you to know I respect you in the end,” David Vender explained to illustrate the messaging Matthew conveyed. “Matt somehow was able to leave people feeling good about even being wrung out in business.”

Finnegan heard much the same from Matthew’s colleagues at Perform. “Every time I would ask how Matt Vender is doing, their faces would just light up,” he said. “He embodied everything you’d want in a great leasing person. He was trustworthy. He was positive.”

That focus on developing people also connects Matthew Vender’s legacy to his father’s career. The elder Vender, executive vice president and president of Brixmor’s north region, oversees approximately 30 million square feet of retail across 18 states and has spent much of his career mentoring younger professionals. Finnegan called him “one of the best developers of talent I’ve ever seen” and pointed to Brixmor leaders around the country who started under his mentorship. “He spent a lot of time with younger people in the organization, whether they’re new leasing reps, new property managers,” Finnegan said. “He has kind of a keen eye for talent and really letting that talent succeed.”

The scholarship in his son’s name extends that commitment to another generation.

David Vender said that while his own career eventually will wind down, he had expected his son’s to continue for decades. He hopes the scholarship, by introducing young people to the industry and giving them opportunities to build careers of their own, creates another way for his son’s influence to continue.

The Scholarship Will Help Temple Students Build Careers in Real Estate

To qualify, Temple students must be juniors or seniors pursuing majors or minors in real estate with at least a 3.0 GPA, with preference given to members of the Temple Real Estate Organization. Beyond the $10,000 award, the recipient will receive a complimentary ICSC Student Membership, the opportunity to participate in the ICSC Foundation Mentorship Program and an all-expenses-paid trip to ICSC LAS VEGAS.

The inaugural scholar, Shane Farmer, is a senior real estate major at Temple’s Fox School of Business. Farmer grew up in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in a family with a background in real estate, but commercial real estate was largely unfamiliar to him before he came to Philadelphia. He entered Temple as a biology major before switching to real estate and said he hopes to gain experience across different areas of commercial real estate after graduation before finding his niche. “To be recognized with it is an honor,” Farmer said of the award. “This scholarship … will further motivate me to push myself in my classes and journey into the world of real estate.”

Fox School of Business assistant dean James Hansen said the scholarship honors “a proud Temple and Fox family” while demonstrating “how individuals can change generations of lives through philanthropy.”

Asked what he would want the scholarship to have accomplished 10 years from now, Finnegan didn’t try to quantify it. “It only takes one person that is able to take advantage of an opportunity like this to help grow their career,” he said.

Matthew Vender didn’t set out to work in retail real estate. He found his way into the business, built a career independent of his father and was beginning to make a name for himself. If the scholarship bearing his name helps another Temple student find a similar opportunity, Finnegan said, “I think it’d be well worth it.”