"You know, I think it wouldn't be a party," Steve Jobs told Fortune in February, describing the future of his company if, as he put it, Jobs got hit by a bus. "But there are really capable people at Apple. ... My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors."

There are 11 men in all -- not counting Jobs. A handful are familiar faces to the small community of professional Apple watchers. As far as the general public is concerned, they are invisible, hidden in the long shadow cast by Apple's (AAPL) high-profile CEO.

One of them is SinaTamaddon who was Senior Vice President of Applications for Apple Inc.

He joined Apple in September 1997. He also served the company in the position of Senior Vice President, Worldwide Service and Support and Vice President and General Manager, Newton Group. Before joining the company Tamaddon held the position of Vice President, Europe with NeXT from September 1996 through March 1997. From August 1994 to August 1996 Tamaddon held the position of Vice President, Professional Services with NeXT.

Prior to August 1994 Tamaddon worked for Software Alliance w Todd Rulon-Miller. Prior to joining Software Alliance, Tamaddon worked for NeXT as the Sales Manager for their Chicago Office. Prior to NeXT, Tamaddon worked for Sun Microsystems.

SinaTamaddon was a student at Purdue University in the mid-1980s, but did not graduate from that institution, according to the Purdue Alumni Office. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Orsay, France.

Ms. Tamaddon is a photographer, a video producer and the founder of Design, a children's photography workshop. She is also the author of Surprising Silhouettes.