Complex sentence: Gary James Schmitt served as executive director (1999--2001) and president (2002--2005) of the New Citizenship Project before becoming the executive director of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) from 1998 to 2005.
Split into simpler sentences: Gary James Schmitt served as executive director (1999--2001) and president (2002--2005) of the New Citizenship Project. He was the executive director of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) from 1998 to 2005.