Simplify the following text for a Grade 11 native English-speaking person.
Original: He was BundesgeschÃ ftsfÃ 1\/4 hrer ( executive director ) of the national SPD from 1995 to 1998 , and after holding briefly the post of Minister of Transportation and Construction in the first cabinet of Chancellor Gerhard SchrÃ der , he was the first to hold the new post of SPD General Secretary from 1999 to 2002 , and thereafter became leader of the SPD fraction in the Bundestag .
Simplified: From 1995 to 1998 he was BundesgeschÃ ftsfÃ 1\/4 hrer ( federal executive director ) of the SPD . In 1998 he became Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure of Germany under Chancellor Gerhard SchrÃ der .