Ester Flores, Dallas, was named a 2020 Rising Star by The Bond Buyer, a leading municipal finance publication. She has worked for more than a decade at HilltopSecurities, going from analyst, assistant vice president and vice president for the firm’s public finance division to her current title as director and investment banker. She has worked in a variety of fields -- including higher education, transportation and health care -- to develop new financial models and debt structures, and her transactions total $21.2 billion.