Our Team
Tatjana (Tanja) Vujic, Principal
Tanja formed Novi Strategies in answer to the tremendous opportunity and challenge of finding viable solutions to climate change and evolving the energy system. For decades, Tanja has worked innovatively at the intersection of new markets, emerging technology, policy and regulation, and public-private partnerships to tackle some of the most pernicious environmental and climate issues of our day.
Tanja offers extensive experience across various disciplines and venues, with a special knack for knitting seemingly disparate groups and initiatives into cohesive solution pathways. She has developed groundbreaking programs for major academic and nonprofit institutions and businesses to help them achieve ambitious climate commitments, scale renewable energy and pollution control systems, and launch highly profitable new business streams.
Prior to Novi, Tanja was recruited to launch and co-chair Jenner & Block’s Transitions in Energy and Climate Solutions practice, where she focused on such topics as tax credits and funding mechanisms for emerging energy and technology development, environmental attribute generation, powerplant regulation, utility natural gas decarbonization, and agricultural project development. She also co-chaired the firm’s ESG practice, where she concentrated on the significance of social elements to environmental goals and climate risk.
Tanja founded Duke University’s Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative in 2009, a nationally recognized effort through which she designed and executed the University’s external GHG reduction strategy, with a special focus on pollution reduction measures that would improve community and environmental outcomes. At DCOI, she spearheaded full-scale proof-of-concept projects and wove together research, public funding, policy, market incentives, and public-private partnerships to make emission reduction solutions accessible. Her work at DCOI earned her an invitation to chair North Carolina’s Energy Policy Council in 2012. She has been an active member on state and national-level efforts focused on natural climate solutions, resilience, and renewable natural gas development. Related to international issues, she has held research and adjunct appointments at Duke University, was integral to developing the blueprint for what is now the Energy Access Project at Duke University, and started WasteNot Strategies to support foundations, various national nonprofits, and companies in fulfilling their renewable energy investment, GHG reduction, and environmental attribute monetization goals.
Tanja earned dual degrees in Geology and Geophysics and Studies in the Environment from Yale University and a J.D. with Honors from The George Washington University. She clerked for the Honorable James C. Cacheris of the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria Division) and worked in the U.S. EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance. In 2019 she was recognized as a U.S. Trailblazer by BioCycle Magazine and in 2020 served on the Steering Committee for the Resilience Roadmap project.
Tim Profeta, Principal
Tim co-founded Novi Strategies to continue his career-long focus on motivating public and private investment in climate solutions. Over his career, Tim has served at high levels in all three branches of the federal government. Most recently, Tim served from September 2021 to September 2023 as the Special Counsel for the Power Sector and Senior Advisor at U.S.EPA. In that role, Tim advised in the development of the Agency’s comprehensive strategy regarding the regulation of pollution from the power sector and maintained the Agency’s relationships on the same with outside stakeholders and other interested executive branch officials. In addition, when the Inflation Reduction Act was passed into law, Tim played a significant role in designing some of the Agency’s signature IRA-funded programs, including the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
Prior to his executive branch service, Tim founded the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University and directed it for its first 16 years, building the Institute into a major nonpartisan player in key environmental debates. His work at the Nicholas Institute included numerous legislative and executive branch proposals to mitigate climate change, including providing Congressional testimony several times on his work at Duke University, developing multiple legislative proposals for cost containment and economic efficiency in greenhouse gas mitigation programs, and facilitating climate and energy policy design processes for several U.S. states. Immediately before leaving Duke, Tim created and chaired the Climate 21 Project, which identified immediate strategies that the Executive Branch could deploy in a whole-of-government approach to address climate change.
Tim arrived at Duke after five years of service as Counsel for the Environment to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, where he also ran the Clean Air, Wetlands and Climate Change Subcommittee for the Senator. Tim is known for his involvement in early and groundbreaking efforts to develop economy-wide climate legislation, pollution control mechanisms, and protection of federal lands. In addition to his time on the Hill, Tim spent two years as the law clerk for Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Tim earned a J.D., magna cum laude, and a master's in environmental management in resource ecology from Duke in 1997 and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University in 1992. He is a member of the Climate Action Reserve Board of Directors and is a member of The American Law Institute.
Mirjana Vujic Profeta, Associate
Mirjana, or M, rounds out Novi Strategies’ team. M graduated cum laude from the University of Denver in 2023 and earned degrees in Geography and Political Science as well as a certificate in Criminology. After graduation, M honed her analytical skills working as a paralegal in the investment management practice of Stradley Ronan in Philadelphia. M has now returned to her passion for energy and natural resources, coming to Novi as its first associate.
M also has served in some of the most physically challenging jobs in the country with aplomb, including wrangling the herds of horses at two Wyoming ranches and serving as camp jack for an elk hunting outfitter. Whether she’s leading excursions or working on Novi projects, M is highly resourceful and diligent. M has been a welcome addition to the Novi team, assisting Tanja and Tim with all aspects of the business, and brings creativity and new insights into all that she does.
Affiliated Contractors
Victoria is a climate and energy specialist and qualitative social scientist with expertise in technology transitions, climate finance, international development, and gender. In her recent role as Senior Policy Associate at the James E. Rogers Energy Access Project at Duke University, she collaborated with policymakers, private partners, foundations, and research institutions to develop research and knowledge outputs on scaling up renewable energy solutions, accessing finance, and improving equity for women and marginalized communities. In 2023, she co-authored two reports – on gender and on climate finance and low-carbon transitions - funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), which have informed the strategy of IDRC’s future calls for funding in their Sustainable Inclusive Economies workstream.
As a climate and energy specialist, her recent projects have included policy engagement on carbon pricing mechanisms in the United Kingdom, leading actor analysis and institutional analysis for carbon credit markets in Africa funded by IDRC, and securing access to finance for the U.S. domestic electric vehicle supply chain. Victoria holds a Ph.D. in Land Economy and an M.Phil. in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge.
Victoria Plutshack
Ian Hitchcock
A native of Dubois, Wyoming who has advocated for clean energy policy in the progressive bastion of Vermont, Ian Hitchcock has seen the challenges of the energy transition from all sides. In May 2024, Ian graduated from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University with a Master in Public Policy, during which time he also benefited from summer work as an environmental protection specialist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Before his graduate work in North Carolina, Ian served as Energy and Climate Program Coordinator for the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), where he helped to secure passage of the Vermont Global Warming Solutions Act. Ian also worked in the Senate Office of Senator Bernie Sanders, tracked energy and climate policy for Renewable Energy Vermont (REV), and supported local climate action as an AmeriCorps Member with the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network (VECAN). Ian received his undergraduate degree from Marlboro College in 2016 after completing a self-designed, interdisciplinary degree program in environmental studies.