This May, Matt Varey, a key volunteer with Breakthrough T1D since 2001, will embark on an ambitious two-month long, 7500 km, cycling journey across Canada. As Matt rides Coast-to-Coast for Cures in support of Breakthrough T1D, his goal is that his passion and drive will inspire Canadians to give generously to make each day better for those living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) while driving towards cures.
Matt has held a series of key volunteer roles within Breakthrough T1D. Matt currently serves on both the Breakthrough T1D International Board of Directors as Vice Chair and Breakthrough T1D Canada Board of Directors.
Matt was most recently a senior executive at RBC prior to his retirement in June 2024. Matt joined RBC in 1987 and held a wide range of senior management and executive positions within RBC, including Head of RBC Investments Canadian Financial Planning business. Prior to this responsibility, he was Vice President and General Manager of RBC Suisse, RBC’s Global Private Banking operations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Matt graduated from McMaster University and currently enjoys retirement in Oakville, Ontario, with his wife, Dr. Andrea Jack, or AJ, and their four adult children.
Matt sat down with Breakthrough T1D to share more about his motivations behind taking on such an ambitious fundraiser, and why supporting the T1D community is so important to him.
Breakthrough T1D: Tell us a little bit more about yourself
Matt Varey: I’m 61-years-old, born and raised in Oakville, ON. I had simple, caring parents, both are passed now, an older sister who lives in Calgary, and my brother lives in France. I went to McMaster for kinesiology. I absolutely loved sports, I still do. I was a competitive paddler, played football, rugby, and I biked. My life revolved around sports. But I had another passion, finance and investments. And upon graduation, I came to a fork in the road, did I pursue kinesiology or my other passion. I was always told when you come to a fork in the road, you have to choose one path and follow it through. I got an opportunity to start working at Dominion Securities, so I took the finance fork. I was 23 years old, and I ended up spending 37 years with RBC. I was in leadership for almost my entire career, and it took me so many places – to Saskatoon, Kitchener Waterloo, Toronto, Singapore, Switzerland.
It was also around this time that I met the love of my life, my wife AJ, on a blind date in Muskoka, and we got married about a year and half later. At that point we were living in Toronto, and that started our journey with our family. We have four beautiful adult children. Our oldest works at RBC, our second oldest is a chemical engineer, working to clean water around the world, our third works at Dominion Securities at RBC in the brokerage area, and the youngest works in commercial real estate. AJ is a partner at a dental practice and teaches part-time. And we are both extremely proud grandparents of two grandchildren.
And as I mentioned, my parents are gone, but they were the ones who taught me to always give back. They were very simple and kind people, who were always giving back. I live every day trying to honour what they taught me.
I love the outdoors, lakes, forests, prairies, mountains, anywhere I can just be outside, I love it and feel alive. I love to continue with my middle-aged body in sports, love to be on the bike, love that I’m retired and can follow the markets, I love to read. I am working towards achieving my pilot’s license. So, when I am not on my bike, I like to be in the air. But most of all, I love to be involved with purposeful journeys, and surround myself with kind, caring people dedicated to a purpose.
Breakthrough T1D: You’ve been involved with Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF) as a volunteer and board member for over 20 years, how did you first get connected with the organization?
Matt Varey: My relationship with Breakthrough T1D started in 2001, my wife AJ and my four small children were transferred at RBC back from Geneva to Toronto. At that time, we were asked to build a new Canadian business within the bank, and it entailed me and other leaders going across Canada and speaking to employees very passionately and credibly about what they were going to help build. We went coast to coast to Victoria, Newfoundland, Yellowknife. We visited branches, held town halls, we’d do four a day and went onto the next city, to talk about the business.
Banking is a human business based on trust. I had to get out of my introverted shell talking to employees, and so I would ask them – who are you as a person? I want to get to know you as a human beyond just work. I had no idea what Breakthrough T1D (then JDRF) was at the time. And you’d hear from people about their kids, or their sports, and 1 or 2 people, I would ask them about their family, and they would get teary, or speak with a crack in their voice. So, naturally I would probe a bit and ask more, and they would tell me about their family member and their journey with T1D.
So, when I got back from this Canada-wide work trip, I learned about the Breakthrough T1D ‘battle of the banks’ Ride – and thought to myself wow, I have to do this. That spring, I trudged down to City Hall, and was part of the RBC Ride team, I saw so many RBCers enthusiastically giving back, it was so inspiring. I saw all these people raising money for T1D research, and I made this connection to the people who I met along that work trip affected by T1D, and I got the bug. My mother always said, ‘what’s given is yours forever’ and I knew I had a new purposeful journey with Breakthrough T1D.
It all flowed from there. I became the chair of RBC Ride Cabinet, and then the National Cabinet Chair. I saw the power of progress, I saw the dedication, and the passion of people. So I said, I can’t stop at the Ride. And then I met a fabulous mentor, one of the most people important people in my life, Peter Oliver.
Peter was one of founding fundraisers of what was then JDRF, because of his daughter Vanessa, who lives with T1D. He was such a giving person, and he taught me things I will never forget about giving back. He told me: Always think big, never take no for an answer. Do things that will stand out, never underestimate, two is one, one is none, it’s not what’s in front of you, it’s who is on either side of you.
Peter was the definition of a mentor, about what Breakthrough T1D stood for, and the people who worked there. And he knew that he had this young guy named Matt, who would follow anything he asked. I’ve been a Board Member, Vice Chair, Chair of Breakthrough T1D Canada, and I’ve never felt a culture of giving, togetherness and dedication like I did from the people at this organization. This led me to being a board member of Breakthrough T1D International (headquartered in the United States), and now I am currently the Vice-Chair of Breakthrough T1D International.
And this journey can be credited in so many ways to Peter, who was and is, and always will be my north star.
Breakthrough T1D: How did you devise the idea for Coast to Coast for Cures?
Matt Varey: As I retired, in summer 2024 I thought about something my mum always taught me, which was to ‘never stop moving and never let the old man in’. So with mentors like my mum telling me to ‘keep moving’, and Peter Oliver saying, ‘make sure it’s big, make sure it stands out, and make sure it challenges you’, I came up with the idea for the event.
Riding across Canada for 57 days and 7500 kms coast to coast for a cause, it’s doing something different, and honestly – it’s something that scares me, which is good. I also love Canada so much, so that’s part of my journey too. And I knew RBC would always have my back, as a mission, values-based organization, they told me in my retirement if I ever did anything for Breakthrough T1D, they would be involved and support me 100%.
I want to challenge myself, hold true to my mum and Peter. And my wife said she would take two months off work, bring the dog and drive behind me. My wife is my everything and I could never do this without her.
And one evening I made a public proclamation that I was going to do this, and then there was no turning back.
Breakthrough T1D: What are you most excited about for the ride, both personally and for raising awareness of Breakthrough T1D and type 1 diabetes?
Matt Varey: The world is changed by your actions, not by your words. Human beings, deep inside, want to see people accomplish something that is hard, but shows dedication. I think that it attracts human beings to be generous. The sheer wonderment of ‘wow, he did that’. If we’re going to be asking people to help us raise half a million dollars, they want to see your skin in the game.
I’m excited about seeing the generosity of people. I’m an optimist, I always believe tomorrow is going to be better than today. So, I’m excited about people being generous. I’m excited to see Canada for two months with my wife and seeing my former RBC colleagues who I miss dearly.
Breakthrough T1D: Do you have a message for the Breakthrough T1D community?
Matt Varey: We will never ever stop moving forward for cures. Ever. And I am just one of thousands and thousands of incredibly dedicated volunteers who also wake up every day and say the same thing, with even more credibility than myself.
As Mary Tyler Moore, who lived with T1D herself would say, “you can’t be brave, if you’ve only had easy things happen to you.”
And people who live with T1D are brave every day. So please know that my commitment to you is to be brave also. And we will never ever stop until we get to a world free from type 1 diabetes.
To follow Matt’s progress on his journey or to support him, please visit: www.coast2coast4cures.ca
