Donald Kohn, the current vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, says he is delaying his departure on the short-staffed Federal Reserve board at the request of Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Kohn says he will remain on the board to give the Senate more time to confirm one of the pending nominations President Barack Obama has made to fill three vacancies on the seven-member board. Kohn had originally announced he would step down by July 23.

Obama in April announced that he had chosen Janet Yellen, currently the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, to become the vice chairman of the Fed. But that nomination and two others are still pending before the Senate.