Elmer Boyd Staats (June 6, 1914 – July 23, 2011) was an American public servant whose career from the late 1930s to the early 1980s was primarily associated with the Bureau of the Budget (BOB) (now the Office of Management and Budget [OMB]) and the GAO. Staats was born to Wesley F. and Maude (Goodall) Staats. Staats received his AB from McPherson College in 1935, his MA from the University of Kansas in 1936, and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1939.