The Founders
Mechanics Alliance was founded in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by two people who saw a real gap in the industry and decided to do something about it.
Elijah Strauss
Elijah is the founder of Commoner Apps LLC, the Texas-based software company behind Mechanics Alliance. Years of building software for mobile-mechanic operators is what surfaced the institutional gap the association exists to close, and he brings that perspective — software founder rather than mechanic — to how Mechanics Alliance is structured. Based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Hannah Strauss
Hannah co-founded Mechanics Alliance alongside Elijah and works on the association's direction and operations from the same Dallas-Fort Worth home base. Building Mechanics Alliance is a family project as much as a company project.
Expanding the team
Mechanics Alliance is recruiting for the roles below. If you've spent time in automotive, trade associations, technology, or advocacy and want to help build a real institution — get in touch.
Director of Education
Leading resource development, webinar programming, and education initiatives for members.
Director of Community
Building the chapter network, Discord community, and regional meetup program across the country.
Head of Partnerships
Managing vendor relationships, group purchasing programs, and insurance partnerships.
Advisory board
Founders shouldn't be the only authority behind a standard. Mechanics Alliance is seating three advisors from outside the association to hold us to account on the parts of this that have to be right.
Technical Advisor
Reviews the certification standard before a badge goes on anybody, and the State of Mobile Mechanics survey methodology before we field it.
Education Advisor
Reviews member guides and training programming for technical accuracy, and where our education actually has gaps.
Industry Relations Advisor
Keeps the association aligned with neighboring bodies, standards groups, and training institutions instead of duplicating them.
Straight about where this stands: none of the three seats are filled yet. We're recruiting them now, and each advisor gets named here when they accept, with their company, their city, and what they are actually credentialed in. Advisors are unpaid, hold no decision authority, and do not endorse Commoner Apps products. How the seats differ from the member-drawn Founding Member Council is set out in the governance principles.