James Sterling, usually known as "Sterling", was Nathan Ford's fellow insurance investigator and rival at I.Y.S. Insurance. He is played by Mark A. Sheppard. The two competed, with Nate generally coming out on top, which left some bad blood between them. Sterling likes to believe he and Nate were friends, but Nate disagrees. Some time after Nate left IYS, Sterling became their principal insurance investigator. After the The First David Job he was promoted to vice president of the company. Sterling is also the target of Eliot's anger.