NEVER DIE
WONDERING

Tony Rae was a product of the soil long before he was a product of the boardroom. Raised on a dairy farm in Narre Warren North, outside Melbourne, he studied Civil Engineering at RMIT before the "siren song of adventure" pulled him onto the road — first to Nepal, then to a 35-year career spanning Asia, China, the UK, the US, and the Middle East.

Tony describes himself as an entrepreneur, a business adventurer, and an international mercenary. He has built and run major operations across oil and gas, mining, infrastructure, and high-rise construction — spending half his career leading large corporate groups and the other half running his own. The defining moment was the management buyout of Cleveland Bridge, a storied British engineering firm, and the years of success that followed.

Along the way he has made four fortunes and lost three of them, survived the collapse of a major firm on his 21st birthday, weathered the 2008 GFC, been tear-gassed in Papua New Guinea, deported from Algeria, and lived through a military coup in Myanmar. He has also built and operated award-winning steakhouses, gastro pubs, and rooftop bars from rural Australia to the heart of Myanmar — because for Tony, the best deals are never done only at the boardroom table, but at the dinner table too.

He now lives by the philosophy behind the book's title: never die wondering.