Joyce co-founded Growth Acceleration Partners with
Brett Bachman. Joyce thrives on challenges, whether it’s managing a fast-track division of a large corporation, or positioning a start-up company to raise $21 million in venture funding. She focuses on Management Consulting and assisting companies in improving margins through Search Engine Marketing.

Prior to founding Growth Acceleration Partners, Joyce was the CEO and President of Pinion Software, a security software company. Under her strategic direction and leadership, the company has delivered a preeminent suite of enterprise file-security solutions that have been adopted by leading customers in the energy, pharmaceutical, and insurance industries, and the federal sector. During her five years at the helm, Joyce led Pinion Software to consistent revenue growth in excess of 100% annually. And from 2001-2006, she successfully raised $21M in venture financing to accelerate business- and product-development initiatives.

Prior to joining Pinion Software, Joyce was the General Manager and Vice President of the DataOne database products division for BMC Software, which generates annual revenues in excess of $200 million. Joyce implemented new direct and indirect channel strategies, driving significant revenue growth. She also implemented new product management and development strategies that dramatically reduced time to market by one-third. Under her management, the business unit achieved over 40% profit margin and annual revenue growth of 30% - 50%.

Other positions during her 11-year career at BMC included Director of Research & Development, R&D Product Line Manager, Product Marketing Manager and Software Consultant. Prior to joining BMC in 1990, Ms. Durst held positions at IBM in sales and as a Systems Engineer. She holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M University.

Joyce is active in the community and serves on the Advisory Board of Seton Northwest, the Board for the Association of Women in Technology Austin, and the Development Council for the Lowry Mays Business School at Texas A&M University.

“I’ve been in high tech when it was growing like a rocket – when we were learning how to scale quickly, to have the right team and product. Conversely, I’ve been in high tech in some of the worst times. It’s all about taking the limited resources no matter what the situation, and figuring out a compelling way to create the products your customers want.” – Joyce Durst