ProfileCommon object not getting instantiated

I am getting an object not instantiated error on a production environment only when trying to execute the following code. 
 
Profile.GetProfile("username");
Any ideas why?  Web.config below.
 
<profile defaultProvider="ProfileProvider" enabled="true" automaticSaveEnabled="true">
      <providers>
        <add name="ProfileProvider"
             connectionStringName="MembershipConnection"
             applicationName="/"
             type="System.Web.Profile.SqlProfileProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"/>
&nb ...